From Orion Pax to Optronix to Optimus Prime I
by optimusprimus001
Summary: Rebirth: Orion Pax has reawakened and stepped from the grip of death as Optronix... Only his only clues to his traumic past is a locket, a raw energon shard embedded in his hand, and six mechs who just don't know when to leave him alone...
1. Creation

Optimusprimus001 (Subitayo): There's a reason I've been writing this story... I've gotten a few questions about why one thing in my Swords of Primus & Unicron series is such and such a way instead of another. It's also occured to me that some of you may wonder just how close Shiori, Cheryl, and Orion (Optimus Prime) are... Plus the Optimus in my head wouldn't shut up until I started writing this a few weeks ago. >.>; Oh the joy... So here's a very long, explainative story to explain things. >D

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1. Creation**

All above Cybertron's surface was lit with starlight and lamplight. A purple-grey hue hung about the planet, though powerful, golden-like cities spread around the landscape stretched out towards one another with blue, glowing lights and buildings. Transformers of all sorts moved, talked, learned, worked, and slept above the thick, armored plating of this metallic world floating in space. Even so, dispite so many numbers of Transformers, few dared to venture below the surface, and those who did came back changed; As if they were no longer simply themselves, or as if they'd seen an incredible, frightening thing within the darkness deeper than the catacombs. Only a few of the few dared to venture beyond the faint light of the catacombs- the bravest, and the knowing...

For in the deepest of the darkness, the center of the planet, was a light- And not any ordinary light at that. It's powerful, blue-gold energy pulsed with the beat of life, and a strong, majestic voice spoke to those who came across it. It spoke to those passing about knowledge... Reality and dreams... Life and death... Strength and weakness... Pain... and joy...

However, there was no one to hear it voice now, and as of the moment, it was alone in the darkness of itself; busily occupying itself with matters of creation. Humming wire-like tubes stretched from the brightest part of the blue-gold light, curling around another glow of a smaller, silver-white spark.

"In time, young one... Right now, Knowledge of the Legends is needed..." The giant, majestic spark said softly, and both faded into a darkness where their light could not be seen... ... ...

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Subitayo: >D Who thinks they know who the Blue-gold spark is? ... I don't think anyone knows who the silver-white spark is unless they've read The Swords series... O-o; Maybe... Oh well. All explained in time, right? XD  



	2. Orion Pax

Subitayo: Alright. Next chapter...

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2. Orion Pax**

He woke up and moved throughout the morning like he usually did: rummaging through the kitchen for food, eating breakfast at the counter while reading the news off of his datapad, and glancing at the clock as he cleaned his dishes. He was about to walk out the door to work when the letter he'd gotten yesterday caught his attention. He stopped to pick it up. _That's right... I don't work today; I go to the spaceport to pick up my new "sibling" that's been created..._ He gawked at the open letter for a moment before shaking his head and leaving for the spaceport. _What a day for a Pax... I wonder if I have a sister or a brother,_ he thought. Frankly, he didn't care- any company would be nice for a long change; And though a sibling might get into arguments with him, at least he'd have some family to look after...

A few minutes later, he was standing outside the main passenger docks, looking through the disembarking Transformers for any familiarity between himself and them. His light-blue optics glowed with a faint sense of worry as the moments dragged on. Had they missed the ship somehow, and was now lost at wherever the spaceport from creation was? His optics flicked from big and small transformers, hunting out any that weren't being found by another who recognized some similarity. _Where are they?_ He wondered, fidgeting in his place in a clear area where he could easily be seen. He paused as his optics landed on a somewhat small transformer with his opposite coloration clinging to the starship captian, who was trying to get her to go look for her family.

"Look, sweethear'- Ya need to go and look fer someone _over there_; I can't take ya... As cute as yeh are, I can' keep ya," The captian was trying to free his arm from the small transformer's amazingly strong grip. She looked close to tears when he finally escaped her grasp. The captian sighed and knelt down beside her.

"I'm sorrah, but I can' keep ya. There's someone else tha's gotta watch over ya..." The captian told her. She bowed her head at this and nodded slightly. Turning, she slowly and nervously began to walk around, looking around at the taller transformers with a small sense of fear. Her light-blue optics then met the optics of a red, blue, and white transformer who was watching her. The moment his optics locked with hers, a sudden sense of warmth filled them both. Something in her immediately recognized him as her older brother, and she quickly dashed over to him. A kind smile twitched at his face and he knelt to catch her in a hug. When they pulled away, he was still smiling.

"Ready to go home, little sister?" He asked in a gentle voice, and she nodded. "What's your name?" He inquired gently.

"Shiori Pax..." She told him shyly. He gave her a bigger smile.

"I'm Orion Pax. Come on, Shiori; Let's get you home..." Standing, he started to offer his hand when he suddenly remembered what he did for a job. His optics flashed sharply, and he turned his hand to look at it himself instead, acutely aware of the raw energon shards embedded in them. Orion bit his lip uncertianly and looked at Shiori.

"Can you handle raw energon?" He asked worriedly before relaxing at her nod. "Alright then," He smiled a relieved smile, and this time let her take his hand when he offered it again. Orion turned and began to walk her home... ... ...

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Subitayo: WOOT!... V-V this is the second chapter I've written in a two-hour period since I started the first chapter... O-o; With any hope, I'll get to chapter 6 before posting anything else. >D I might hold off on the posting anyways... Muahahahahahaha... 


	3. Urnsat Major

Subitayo: Alright... for everyone's information, Orion and Shiori are **NOT** on Cybertron. >D And so, onto the story of explainations!

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3. Urnsat Major**

It was four Cybertronian years after Shiori'd come to Urnsat Major to live with her brother, Orion, and they'd been joined by another younger sister two years ago. Now Shiori and her sister, Cheryl, were getting ready to go work in the energon refinery just outside Terana City where they lived together with Orion. Though Shiori was washing the dishes in the sink, her mind was on later that night when the three of them would be home. She smiled happily as she finished washing the dishes and handed the last of them to Cheryl to dry and put away. Shiori then dried her own hands off with a spare towel and stepped around the counter and walked into her room to check on the gift she'd gotten for the 'anniversary' of Orion's seventeenth sparkday.

"Shiori, we're going to be late!" Her younger sister's windy voice floated down the hallway. Shiori quickly hid the gift back in it's hiding spot and dashed down the hallway.

"Coming Cheryl! And don't you _dare _go out that door without me!"

"I know! Hurry up, Shiori. Honestly, even Orion is more prepared for work than you are..."

"You watch your comments, lest they backfire on you," Shiori growled as she snatched their lunches off the counter and rushed out the door with Cheryl hot on her heels. "It's a wonder it hasn't happened yet."

"Now who's snapping off comments...?"

"Zip it!..."

* * *

Rocks crumbled from the blow from the pick that Orion brought down on the cavern-like wall, chipping deeper into the protective barrier that held a precious resource needed by all Transformers: Energon. Pulling his pick free, he brought it around in an arc and swung it mercilessly back into the rock. More of it shattered from the force of his blow, falling to the ground as their team continued to cut into the walls of the mine with their picks. After a few more blows, a golden glow began to emerge from cracks in the rock, and Orion gave a shout to some of the Omnicons talking with themselves behind him. Backing away from his spot, he let them take over as he set the pick down with its spikes close to the ground and swept a hand over his forehead to make sure his systems weren't overheating. 

"Nice job, Orion. First to find it, eh?" The mining captain, Beta, raised a brow at him. "You're just getting better and better at this over the years, aren't you?"

"Who wouldn't with a teacher like you?" Orion grinned before continuing, "Besides, it isn't a race to find it."

One by one, more of their team of seven hit energon deposits, and stepped to the side to let the Omnicons gather the Energon. After a few moments, some of the carts were full of raw energon. Sandblast, one of the Omnicons, looked at him.

"Care to take some of it back to the refinery, Pax?"

"Sure," He said agreeably, handing his pick to Beta. Taking a hold of one of the carts' handle, he began to push it towards the entrance to the mine...

* * *

"Another load coming in!" A nearby voice called out. Shiori ignored the call as she continued to break the energon in her hands to smaller pieces for refining. There was a faint, protesting squeak from a cart as it stopped near her. 

"Hey Shiori. How's your day so far?" Orion asked. Startled, she looked up at him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, surprised that he was in the refinery. He smiled as he turned to leave.

"Sandblast asked me to help bring some of the carts back," He started towards the door only to stop short. Standing in a half-circle around him were three law-enforcement officers blocking his way to the mine.

"Can I... Uh... Help you, in some way?" Orion asked the center one when he realized they were blocking him, and he glanced at the other two uncertainly. The officer standing directly in front of him stepped forewards.

"Are you Orion Pax?" The officer growled. Orion looked among the three of them, puzzled.

"Yes... Is there something wrong, sir?" Orion brought his optics back at the officer, baffled as to why they were looking for him. The officer took several more steps toward him with a grimace on his face.

"Orion Pax, you are under arrest for treason and the stealing- and distribution- of illegal Energon," The officer told him as he put energon bonds around Orion's wrists. Orion blinked in confusion. _Treason? Stealing and distribution of illegal Energon?... What?.!_

"... What?.!" Orion repeated the mental question, and found himself staring at the officer. _Did he say 'ILLEGAL' Energon? And what treasonous thing have I supposedly done? _Orion wondered. None of this was making sense; He'd never stolen anything in his life, nor could he remember doing anything that could be considered treason. The officer ignored the question and half-pushed/half-lead Orion towards the city entrance/exit-way. A few seconds later, he heard Shiori cry out.

"No! He'd never steal anything! He's never done anything treasonous! Let him go!" She begged one of the officers. Orion forced himself to stop near the threshold of the door.

"Shiori..." He said softly without turning around. Shiori stopped protesting and looked over at her older brother.

"Orion-" She began, but fell silent when he looked back at her with that gentle smile of his.

"It's alright, Shiori. We both know I haven't done anything; I'll be back when I've been cleared... But if I don't come back for some odd reason and I'm not at home... Watch over Cheryl for me." With that said, he turned back and firmly walked out of the refinery with the officers at his sides and back and started towards the police station in the nearby Terena City.

Behind them, Shiori sank to the ground, before putting her face in her hands and letting her tears fall through her hands. A minute later, Cheryl was there with her arms around Shiori's shoulders.

"Come on, sis... Duo said you need to go home and rest... Come on, let's go..." She pulled her older sister to her feet and led Shiori back home... ... ...

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Subitayo: Fun... What do you guys think so far? Reviews would be nice occasionally, you guys know... ;-; You're making the Optimus in my head feel unloved... 


	4. Accusitions

Subitayo: O-o For once, I have no idea what to say in the beginning of a chapter. >D Only that Silvershadow is a half-original character, and Cheryl & Shiori Pax _are _OC's. I don't own Transformers in any way except in my head... and you never want to see what i do to some of them. >p Enjoy the newest chapter.

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4. Accusations**

The first thing Orion noticed when he walked into the police station was that there was a lot of arguing going on. And the next thing he saw nearly made him fall over in mid-step; The starship captain that'd brought Shiori and Cheryl to Urnsat Major was there and arguing with the chief of the station...

"Whaddya mean "treason an' illegal possession of Energon"?.! 'Ave ya lost yer mind?.!" The captain growled at the station chief.

"No, we haven't lost our minds. Would you kindly stop questioning our reas-"

"How do ya monitor that stuff anyways? It's _raw Energon_; How can you determine it's been stolen? By Primus- Ya _CAN'T_!

"Get out," The chief said flatly, and pointed at the door while glaring at the green/white bot before him. "And don't come back in here."

"... People these days, what's wrong with the lot of 'em..." The captain muttered as he turned to leave. The green and white bot paused when he saw Orion staring at him. "Eh... Guess Silvershadow's gonna come soon anyways. You'll be out of here yet, Pax," The captain said thoughtfully and swept past the blue, red and white transformer. Orion looked after him curiously. _Be out of here yet? What did the ship captain mean by that?_ He was brought out of his pondering with a rough shove towards the station chief...

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Half an hour later, Orion was sitting by himself in one of the prison cells, silently fuming at the law enforcement chief. Not only had the Station chief refused to listen to him, but he'd quickly made it apparent that he wasn't sympathetic towards Autobots. _I've never stolen anything, never participated in anything illegal, and most certainly have NOT done anything treasonous! They have no right to hold me here without even listening to me! I am somehow denied a defender, and have been untruthfully declared a bandit and villain!_ Orion's blue optics flashed with fustration. _How long are they going to hold me here?.!_

"Let him out," Came a dark voice from outside the cell. Startled, Orion looked up towards the enforced doorway.

"You have no right to order me around, mercenary! What would you want with a trai-" The station chief's voice cut off with the sound of something being slammed into a wall.

"I don't take kindly to having to repeat myself. Let. Him. Out." Orion heard a faint gasp and the sound of a mech falling to his knees.

"You're lucky... that my... officers... aren't here..."

"Do you think that riot was unplanned? Now either you open that door, or I'll tear it down and it wont be holding _anything_ except you under its ruins," The dark voice growled threateningly. After a moment of some mechanical rustling, the door opened. Orion hesitated. Though it seemed he was 'free', he wasn't sure about going free with his 'rescuer'. A towering, cloaked mech came to the edge of the doorway.

"Coming, Akinyemi? We can manage brief pause at your place if you'd like to say goodbye to your sisters, Pax," The dark voice came from the mysterious mech, and Orion looked up into the bot's piercing, silver optics. A strange sense of warmth and courage suddenly filled him, and Orion nodded and started over to the mech...

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Subitayo: Yay! I'm nearly off Urnsat Major! ... >>; Not that that's a good thing in some people's book... By the way, 'Akinyemi' means "fated to be a warrior" in Nigerian for those who wonder. (grin) ... Who's reading this anyways? O.o? I don't have very many reviews, so I'm just wondering... 


	5. Visions

Subitayo:Whoo! Corner free! Muahahahaha! O-o Okay, that's enough. Have fun with the new, long chapter.

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5. Visions **

Cheryl walked out of the kitchen, carefully balancing two plates of food in her hands. She placed one in front of her older sister, and noticed Shiori refused to even glance at it. Cheryl stepped back worriedly, and faintly noticed her sister's dim optics gazed listlessly out the window. _Shiori hasn't been the same since they took Orion away... I wish I could cry with her, but I have to be strong for Shiori..._ Cheryl told herself silently. _I have to be strong!_

"Shiori..." She began, only to find she really didn't know enough about the situation to be able to comfort either of them. _Why did they have to take him? How can we live without him to help us?_ "You need rest, Shiori... Why don't you go lay down in your room?" She suggested aloud. Shiori's gaze didn't change, and Cheryl grew increasingly worried by her sister's unwavering stare.

"Shiori, please..." Cheryl asked softly, "_Please_... Shiori-"

"Orion!" Shiori gasped, and bolted up from her chair and out the door. Cheryl blinked as she glanced between the door and the window before seeing their brother through the window. She moved to the door, and when she got there, Shiori was already hugging Orion. Cheryl smiled gently before looking further down the walkway- and froze.

A towering, cloaked transformer was waiting near the end of the walk, looking down the walk towards them. Then he looked up, and his hot-white optics locked with Cheryl's light-blue ones. Suddenly overwhelmed with something she couldn't explain, she leaned heavily against the doorway- And despite this, she couldn't tear her gaze away from the transformer's optics. As she stared into his white optics, powerful visions flashed through mind with a huge ferocity...

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-"Cheryl, where are you? Let's GO already!"_**

**_"But Shiori-"_**

**_"No! This is not a time to sit here and work! Orion needs our help now, not later!" Shiori's voice cried, only to have another, deeper voice begin to drown her out at the end... ... ..._**

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**_ ----------------------  
"Orion Pax, you say? Such an interesting name to be called... How about showing me, Megatron, around the Energon warehouse? I'm rather 'new' here..."_**

**_"Sure thing. By the way, this is Ariel. And the red one's name is David... and that one there is Jo Vaulter... We just call him Jo."_**

**_"... Interesting... You all work here?"_**

**_"Where else would we work? This is where we store all the processed Energon-"_**

**_"Excellent. That'll be all I need you for..."_**

**_"What-?"_**

**_"ARIEL!" another voice cried, and then there was nothing but flashes and screams... ... ..._**

****

**_ ------------------  
"I thought you two could use a friendly ship to Cybertron; not one of those taken over starships out in the asteroid belt- so here we are."_**

**_"But how did you know-"_**

**_"When one is not from this time, Akinyemi... One tends to know more about a past in order to keep it the same."_**

**_"... Akinyemi? You are mistaken, sir... I am no warrior-"_**

**_"Not yet, Shiori. That is why you are Akinyemi- Not Teferi..."_**

**_"... I don't understand..."_**

**_"In time, Shiori. In time..." ... ... ..._**

****

**_--------------- _**

**_"Oh look. A couple of seeker's don't know how to defend themselves..."_**

**_"You back off and leave them alone, Heartwire! Just because you're 'little miss cutesy' doesn't mean that a bot or a con has to fall for you. They're new here, and with people like you hanging around, they're going to get the wrong impression about femmes, and most of us are a decent lot. So go take your moves somewhere else!"_**

**_"Who do you think you are, Shiori? What kind of name is that anyways? It probably doesn't mean anything useful any- ... Slag you! I'll get you back for this, wench!..."_**

**_"You didn't have to do that for us..."_**

**_"Like I need you to tell me that- Starscream wasn't it?... What in the universe were you thinking to go against the 'most popular' girl in the school anyways?"_**

**_"You don't seem to mind fighting her."_**

**_"That's different. I had a brother once, and I lost him. He may have been somewhat innocent-minded, and didn't know how to defend himself, but at least he held my spark together. Right now all I have is my sister, my friends that I make here, and my own shattered heart as I try to pick up the pieces. I need all the help I can get, and I'm not going to get it standing around ignoring what goes on around me. That's how my brother got sent away and murdered in the first place. I don't need your sympathy." _**

**_"With memories like that, you need anything you can get. Maybe in a group we can prove people like Heartwire aren't always the best way to go. I ask you let me join your cause."_**

**_"You're bold, I'll give you that much. But I'm not in charge of our group- Why don't you go ask Jetfire to introduce you or something..." _**

**_"Because I asked you."_**

**_"... You really are stubborn aren't you?" _**

**_"No more than you, I think. Why?" _**

**_"Uhh... Am I required to answer that?"_**

**_"That would be your choice- as well as what you decide to do with me." _**

**_"Oh Primus... Now you're trying to move on me? You really are just asking to get your afterburners kicked... " ... ... ..._**

**_  
-----------------_**

**_"CHERYL! Where are you? Get your aft out here before you die in that inferno! Primus! You're as stubborn as Shiori and I am... CHERYL!"_**

**_"Optronix...?"_**

**_"Cheryl?" And all of a sudden, she was looking into a pair of gold optics._**

_**"It is you... isn't it... Optronix...?" She whispered. **You're Orion...** And before she fell completely, she saw his optics flash a brilliant hot-white... Hot... White... ... ...**_

* * *

With a sharp sense of returning, Cheryl found herself looking into the cloaked transformer's hot-white optics once again. This time she wasn't worried about Orion going with him. She walked down the walkway, and met him, Orion, and Shiori at the gate. 

"Tardar cuidado de lo," She told the cloaked transformer. His optics flickered slightly, and he nodded. Shiori gave her sister an odd look.

"Let's go, Ku tomo. Our ship won't stay in the hangar forever," The mech said softly to Orion, and turned towards the spaceport. Orion gave them a regretful look.

"I'll send credits when I can so that you can come live with me wherever I end up," He promised. "And Shiori..."

"Yeah Orion?"

"Don't fret about me, I'll be fine. Be strong for all of us," He turned and ran after the cloaked transformer without another word.

It would be the last time they would ever see _Orion Pax_ again.

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Subitayo: O-o Long chapter. Least I'm out of the corner I wrote myself into. 


	6. Cybertron The Mercenary's Mrrisst

Subi: Another chapter!... And part of another chapter written after this maybe. n-n I'm happy, in case you can't tell... Enjoy!

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6. Cybertron (The Mercenary's _Mrrisst_)  
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"These will be your quarters while you're here, Akinyemi."

"Alright... I still can't get over the fact of the size of this ship! How much cargo can it carry anyway?"

"Honestly, I've never filled her more than a quarter of her carrying capacity. The _Mrrisst_ was designed to be able to evacuate an entire Cybertronian city on it's own and be able to support them for up to three months, if that answers your question."

"Cyb... Cybertronian city? You mean as in... _Cybertron_?" Orion asked, stunned. "I thought Cybertron was just a legend..."

"Most colonists do; Just as most Cybertronians think the _Mrrisst_ is a legend," The cloaked transformer told him as they walked down a corridor toward the bridge of the ship. Even though Orion was used to pushing around heavy mining equipment, he struggled to keep up with the other mech's pace.

"The _Mrrisst_ isn't a legend, it exists... If it didn't-"

"Then we wouldn't even be _having _this conversation," The other mech finished, slowing his stride somewhat so Orion could keep up with him.

"Please explain," The Omnicon-Autobot asked after he caught his breath.

"There are several legends on Cybertron connected to the _Mrrisst_. In a way, I'm two legends on my own."

"Really? What's one of your legends?"

"You'll find out someday. And later, when you realize who you've really become... You'll have two legends to live," The mech said, pulling his black cloak off as they reached the door to the bridge. Orion felt his jaw drop slightly as he saw the other mech completely...

The bot was taller than it had seemed with the cloak on. As he straightened, his powerful form arched slightly at his back as he stretched himself. He had mostly dark-blue armor, accented with black pieces of armor and black-tinted glass panels in his chest. The mech paused slightly before turning his head to look at Orion. The younger Autobot stared up at the other with a look of astonishment at the amused, glittering white optics of the mech smiling at him from under a silver faceplate/battle-mask.

"I think I see a part of why you're a legend..." Orion said quietly, feeling small and somewhat insignificant compared to the mech before him.

"Understandable," The other bot said, placing one hand on Orion's shoulder reassuringly and entered a code into the doorpad to open the door with his other hand.

"Greeting: Welcome back master!" A somewhat deep, static-filled voice hissed from inside the room. "Query: Are we ready to leave now?"

"Ahhh, _shut it_, HK!" Another irritated voice cut through. Recognizing the second voice, Orion followed the black, blue, and silver mech through the doorway. Sure enough, the green and white ship captain from before was there, getting into an argument with the rusty-red droid on the other side of the console.

"Refusal: I am not your droid to command. Therefore I am not required to "shut it" as you have said-"

"I don' care! I said we weren' leavin' 'til Silvershadow got here!"

"Observation: The master is here. Wouldn't that mean that we are allowed to leave now?"

"You can' give him ten seconds to sit down first?.!"

"_Both_ of you can stop arguing for once and sit!" The tall mech growled. "Leave Jetfire alone, HK. Jetfire, start the ship up _and ignore HK_," Silvershadow added. Both glanced at each other before setting about the task of prepping the ship for take off. Orion tilted his head slightly at the green and white mech. _So his name is Jetfire. I guess that coincides with why he has wings to fly on his own with..._ Orion waved a short wave at Silvershadow and started back to his quarters on the ship so he'd be out of their way...

* * *

"_That's _Cybertron? It looks..." 

"Different?" Silvershadow supplied. Orion stood beside him, staring out the viewport at the huge metal planet in front of the starship.

"Yes... Very different. Where are we landing, by the way?"

"Atlantis City. You'll like it there- friendly bots, lots of jobs that'll be easy for your experience, good food and places to live..."

"Okay, I think I get it..." Orion said slowly, blinking away some tears as he thought of his sisters back on Urnsat Major. _I miss them already..._ He thought, and faintly noted Silvershadow move over to one of the spydor droids Orion had built to help keep the ship repaired and clean earlier. _I'll do what I can to get Shiori and Cheryl to be able to see this sight and able to come live on Cybertron, No matter what it takes!_ He swore to himself silently.

"I think I'm going to call this one Or-ion," Silvershadow said mildly, kneeling on the ground behind him. Orion Pax jumped slightly at the similarity of names and turned to face the taller mech to find him holding the spydor with light-blue optics in his arms.

"...Sorry?"

"I'm going to call this one Or-ion, for 'returning one'," Silvershadow repeated, smiling. Orion frowned slightly.

"Why?"

"No idea. Spur of the moment? Or to give you an honorary place on this ship somehow? Choose to believe what you will."

Orion couldn't help but grin at the darker mech's easy slide into letting him wonder at such things. _He must have had a lot of practice to do that so easily..._ "What are you going to name the other four?" He asked aloud, nodding towards the green, grey, yellow, and red optics sitting in a semi-circle behind Silvershadow. The taller bot turned slightly to look at them thoughtfully.

"I don't know," the black, blue, and silver mech said finally.

"How about Sagira for the yellow one?" Orion suggested. The yellow spydor twitched slightly before scuttling away down the hallway. Both Silvershadow and Orion Pax laughed, making Jetfire came to the other doorway in curiosity. Silvershadow grinned at him.

"Want to name one, Jetfire?"

"Name one...? Oh," the green and white seeker began before noticing the spydor droids. "Er... I'm not really good with names, 'Shadow... You know that..."

"Name one, please," Silvershadow insisted. Jetfire sighed.

"Alrigh'... How about 'Ski'?" The green-white seeker suggested before starting in surprise; The spydor with grey optics suddenly scuttled right up to him and began to snuggle against his leg. Jetfire hesitated before scooping the droid up, only to provoke Ski into snuggling closer to his chest. The seeker smiled suddenly, somehow understanding why the other two were laughing now.

"How about the next one?" Orion asked, fighting back his laughter. Before another name could be said, however, the spydor with red optics suddenly straightened its legs and shot down the hallway at a high speed without warning. The green-opticed one hissed fiercely after it, though it only scuttled a few steps after it before stopping. Silvershadow shook his head at the "red one" and then found himself laughing at the "green one", as it reminded him of someone he knew.

"How about Ar-iel for you?" the blue, black and silver mech asked the fore-mentioned droid. Ar-iel hummed softly before chasing after the other spydor. "I guess that was accepted," Silvershadow chuckled. "That's all of them."

"I guess. Cute little critters..." Jetfire mumbled before glancing at the taller mech. "We're docked, by the way."

Silvershadow nodded and got to his feet. Orion smiled at them both.

"Thanks for bringing me here, you two," He began. Silvershadow raised a hand to stop him.

"Don't worry about it, Akinyemi. Now let's get you to your new home..." ... ... ...

* * *

Subi: Yay! Somewhat long chapter... n-n I'm sorry for you Swords fans, I'm still somewhat stuck, but that's what I'll be trying to work on next. My "idea/plot bunny" just got out of his usual two-three week nap and will be running around amongst the chaos in my head for the next three months. >D So. In short, I should have the next Swords chap. posted by next Friday night. n-n Then I'll have all the time in the world- Yay for the end of school!... 


	7. Attacked

Subi: Oo; I'm just killing timeframes this week... Sorry guys. Xo I'll try to do better, but I'm in summer school right now so it's been harder to get on and have the inspiration to write stuff...

**

* * *

7. Attacked**

Atlantis City ended up being _very_ different compared to Urnsat Major. Its towering golden buildings were brighter than the red-orange rocks that surrounded Terena City. As Orion and Silvershadow stepped out of the space dock for the Mrrisst, several bots continued to rush around to other docking ports with supplies, fuel, and tools for the other docked starships. One glance around told Orion that the amount of ships in port could only be explained by a large amount of exported materials. _I wonder what their major export is..._ He thought as he followed Silvershadow through the spaceport. He quickly pushed the amazement of the city out of his mind with a silent reprimand that he was acting like a tourist and that there would be time to look around later. Shaking his head slightly, Orion looked ahead to find Silvershadow was almost to the door.

"Wait for me!" Orion called, and broke into a run to catch up to the taller bot... ... ...

* * *

"Morning, Orion!" A red Autobot called, waving from the other side of the room as Orion walked through the door. 

"Morning, David," He answered, signing himself in at the office. Drawback glanced at the papers once before leaning towards him.

"Hey, Orion? Would you mind showing the new mech around?" Drawback asked, gesturing to a silver-white bot nearby. "He just got here..."

"Sure, Drawback," Orion answered, smiling at him before turning to face the new bot. He walked over to the other mech to introduce himself.

"Hey there. Are you the new mech working here? I'm Orion Pax," He said, offering to shake the bot's hand. The mech nodded instead and said, "Orion Pax? Such an interesting name to be called... How about showing me around the Energon warehouse? I'm rather 'new' here... My name is Megatron, by the way."

"Sure thing. By the way, this is Ariel. That's David... and that one there is Jo Vaulter... We just call him Jo," Orion said, introducing his friends he'd met almost a year ago as they walked past.

"... Interesting... You all work here?" Megatron asked.

"Where else would we work? This is where we store all the processed Energon-"

"Excellent. That'll be all I need _you _for..."

"What-?" Orion began, turning back to look at Megatron. Ariel suddenly threw herself between him and Megatron without warning. There was a bright flash seconds later, and Orion felt something slam into him with an incredible force. Her piercing scream was the only warning the rest of them had.

"ARIEL! ORION!" David cried out, and Jo was shouting about something, but the pain in Orion's spark was so strong that he fell to his knees as he struggled to stay online. Orion gasped as he felt as if his spark was being violently pulled apart, and he barely managed to lift his head to look at Megatron.

"... Why?" He whispered, and the Decepticon glared down at him.

"Because the Council of Elders is an oppression," Megatron said, and pointed his cannon at Orion's sparkbox. "And you're in the way..." ... ...

* * *

"Cheryl, where are you? Let's GO already!" 

"But Shiori-"

"No! This is not a time to sit here and work! Orion needs our help _now_, not later!" Shiori, spun around and rammed into the guard that had just come in.

"Shiori! Wait for me!" Cheryl shouted, running after her sister, all the while wondering why this seemed so familiar. They ran together to the spaceport. Shiori skidded into one of the huge hangers and stopped in shock at the huge starship sitting there. Cheryl looked around her sister, and saw a cloaked transformer arguing with a red droid near him. Grasping her older sister's wrist, Cheryl pulled her sister over to them.

"Objection: Surely you are joking, master. Am I not too useful to be discarded in such a way?"

"HK, would you please just _shut up_?"

"Resigned acknowledgement: As you desire, master," the droid sighed.

"Can I help you?" The transformer asked, straightening suddenly, knowing they were there even though he was facing the other way.

" 'Tardar cuidado de lo' " Cheryl said, quoting herself from a year ago. The other mech smiled a quick, hidden smile before resuming hunting through the supply boxes for something.

"There's not much time. Get on quickly if you want to find him," The bot said as he found what _he _was looking for. "Let them _pass_, HK..." He added as the red droid started to block them from boarding the ship. The red droid muttered something and stepped aside to let Shiori and Cheryl walk across the walkway to the ship... ... ...

* * *

Subi: oo; I'm really in a chaotic mood right now... Muahaha... Chaos! n-n ... ... .. Oo um... yeah... Don't ask. 


	8. First Death

Subi: It's a short one... but at least it gets me somewhere... >>;

**

* * *

8. First Death **

The room was physically empty, filled instead with the dark terror and pain of death and destruction. The once silver walls were scorched and burned, cracks spread from the blackened holes in the walls and floor, and rubble crumbled from the damaged supports of the ceiling. Scattered chips and wires were everywhere, including the tell-tale frames of Transformers that were now fallen. Most of the lights in the ceiling were destroyed, though some had sparks spraying out from the broken fuses, illuminating the place briefly before it disappeared once again.

Orion lay unmoving on the ground next to Ariel near the door to the storage room, now blown open and empty. David was sprawled out halfway to the door, with a dark hole in his red armor. Megatron had disappeared out the door and joined the other rebelling Decepticons in the attack on Atlantis City's council building. For a long moment, everything appeared dead, destroyed, or damaged beyond repair.

His optics flickered weakly, and his fingers twitched slightly. He activated his cracked optics completely, and fought back a faint cry at the pain in his chest. Tensing his shoulders, he managed to pull himself onto his elbows, and slowly began to crawl towards the door that led away from the city. _I've got to warn... Anyone who will listen... Of this attack... So that they can... avoid this pain..._ Orion told himself, despite the horrible pain in his chest. He dragged himself to the door, and barely manage to pull himself to his knees to enter the door-code. A sharp flash of pain drove him back to the floor after the door opened, and he laid there shuddering while he waited for it to pass. He reached out with a hand and pulled himself past the threshold and out into the outskirts of the city, not really knowing where he went, as long as it was away from Atlantis... ... ...

* * *

Alpha Trion was walking towards the ancient city, looking for any workable pieces of circuitry when movement caught his attention a little further ahead. Startled, Alpha Trion looked up and froze as he caught sight of the Transformer twenty steps away. He quickly looked the red, white, and blue Transformer over, realizing that the bot was barely standing and was holding his arm over his chest in pain. Alpha Trion lifted his gaze and looked into the younger bot's optics to find that they were dim, cracked, and flickering as the mech struggled to stay online. Alpha Trion felt himself tense sharply as the optics dimmed into an unseeing grey, and the mech collapsed forward sharply. 

Alpha Trion ran forward, knelt beside the transformer, and carefully turned the bot over in his arms. When he didn't get a response from the young mech, Alpha Trion ran a quick scan and found several vital systems were damaged beyond repair, and the remaining ones were already critical and failing. He struggled with the decision to take him to be repaired or leave him until the light-blue optics weakly flickered on and the bot muttered a weak phrase...

"Atlantis... gone... warn... others..." the young mech barely managed to say, his voice crackling from damaged circuits. The optics dimmed into darkness again; And Alpha Trion made his decision then, and gathering the damaged bot into his arms, he began to make his way back to his isolated home... ... ...

* * *

Subi: Yay! Finally got somewhere! ... oo; um, yeah... (runs off to avoid getting chased down by other people who want her to work on other stories) Sorry it was so short! 


	9. Second Sparks

Subi: Sorry it's taken me so long to post on this story... oo;

**

* * *

9. Second Spark**

Darkness. It surrounded me unrelentingly... hauntingly... _mercilessly_...

"Go away," I whispered, pulling away from the darkness into myself, only to find the same, determined memories threatening to overtake me in waves; as if it wanted me to drown in the grief and guilt of what'd happened. In desperation to _escape_ them, I flung my thoughts back out into the darkness again, and the sense of weightlessness threatened to take everything again, and I pulled back to myself quickly.

"Go away," I breathed, "I have to warn them..." The darkness began to close around me again, this time coming to my presence. I leashed a scream: "_Leave me_, Primus!" And the darkness recoiled as if it'd been struck. Something flickered before me, and suddenly I wasn't alone. A faint, silver-white glow swirled before me, and a sense of knowledge flowed off of it calmly. I hesitated, unsure of why this light had come, when it swept close and ran some of its light _through_ me. I let out a faint cry of surprise as I felt its pass, and drew away from it as far as I could without loosing myself. It floated closer, stretching its light out slowly as if trying to offer something. I froze, finding I could go no further without falling to the darkness. The silver-white glow stretched out again, and this time I heard its soft whispering voice...

"Help me save them..." It said, and I realized that this light wasn't just a strange floating light of some sort...

"You're a spark," I whispered in shock, fear stabbing through me. _I'm dead..._ I realized.

"You are not dead yet," It responded to my thought, "Nothing dies until it joins the Matrix." I tried to cling to that, but found I couldn't, bothered by something else.

"If we're sparks, then we cannot be seen by the living... How can either of us warn them if we can't be seen or heard?" I asked, trying to shake off the feeling of cold.

"I have not been finished being created. If we joined sparks, both of us could live in one frame until another body was built and you could be transferred to the other frame," The silver spark told me quietly. I thought about that for a moment, considering the possibility. Either way, even if I didn't get my own body, other Autobots would be warned about the betrayal and fall of Atlantis...

"I agree to your suggestion," I said, and this time I didn't resist as the spark swept into and through me. It pulled me away from myself, past the darkness to a different light...

_Activating systems... Running scans... Sparkbox secure; Fuel systems operative; Memory systems checking... Files found in spark: Download files?..._

"Yes," one of us said.

_Downloading files... Memory system updated. Activating outer systems... Phase-armor activated; Checking secondary systems... All secondary systems operative; Deactivating secondary systems... Activating visual and audio systems..._

* * *

Alpha Trion stood back as the armored frame he'd built activated, humming at first before slipping into silence as it took on a bright red, a medium-dark blue, and silver color. He examined the mostly blue face, feeling somewhat relieved that the spark of the young Autobot he'd found had taken to the new frame seemingly without a problem. He found himself wondering at what the reused, repaired vocabulator sounded like without the vicious crackling it had when he'd first met the Autobot. The light-blue optics of the younger Transformer activated, and the bot lifted a hand to his face. Alpha Trion stepped over to the mech. 

"Can you hear me, lad?" Alpha Trion asked, laying a hand on the bot's shoulder.

"I... can hear you," The Autobot responded uncertainly with a faintly doubled voice, and he frowned. "Where am I?"

"About two sectors north of Atlantis. I'm Alpha Trion. What's your name, survivor?"

"Or-szz... Optronix..." He said, stumbling over the name as if he'd wanted to say two names at the same time. Alpha Trion frowned slightly. He'd never transferred a spark with _that_ problem before. He shook his head, noting that the deeper-tones of the bot's voice had wanted to say something that began with an 's' while the lighter voice had wanted to say something with 'or'.

"Are all of your systems working right?" He asked, pushing the odd thought out of his mind. Optronix paused for a moment, his optics flickering slightly as he ran though systems again.

"Yes... Trion? What are the 'secondary systems' it's referring to?" Alpha Trion did a double take. "Secondary systems?"

"Yes. The scans picked up on some secondary systems..." Optronix paused again. "Some memory files have been blocked as well..."

"Eh... I'm not surprised memory files are locked down. I went back to look after I'd gotten your spark stabilized; Atlantis is gone, Optronix..."

"Atlantis..." the younger mech whispered, his optics dimming suddenly. "My friends are dead."

"Most likely, lad. The city's in ruins. Falling apart at every corner of every building. Walls are blown, windows smashed... Smoke billows out of holes in buildings; Blue and purple lasers flash at one another in the low, gray clouds near the Council building, lad. You'd be better off not to go back there until you know whoever attacked Atlantis is gone from there," Alpha Trion told him. Optronix's optics were dim.

"I know," He said, sitting up slowly. "Until I find somewhere to go, may I stay here and help you in repayment for what you've done for me?"

"You can stay as long as you like, Optronix. I know someone who might be able to help you find a place to stay, however..." ... ...

* * *

Subi: I'm getting somewhere! (looks thrilled) Yayyyy!... oo; (coughs) right... >>;... ... For those who're confused, the first part of this chapter is in Orion's PoV.  



	10. Introductions

Subi: I think I'm going to start using first person PoV more than I have been; It'll be a little easier to get the sense of experience across better... Not to mention I'd like some more practice before I even start A Past Forgotten later on... Oo

**

* * *

10. Introductions**

I bounded out the door, using my weight to balance my velocity as I practically bounced northwards, hunting for spare scrapmetal and noting where pieces were for when I came back. I went out about a span of ten city blocks before noticing something in the distance heading towards me and Alpha Trion's home. I lifted my hand and shaded my sight from the bright star that'd been getting closer for several years- though how I knew this, I didn't know. My optics picked out the moving object, and I made out the red symbol on the front 'nose' of it that was similar to the symbol on my shoulder.

It approached closer at a somewhat high speed, and I quickly picked up a stash of scrapmetal I'd gathered previously and transformed, the metal falling over my 'legs' that stretched out behind me. I activated the force-fields temporarily attached to my legs and shot off in a path parallel to the yellow Autobot as it rumbled past. I easily caught up and kept pace with the yellow and orange truck- again, I didn't know how I knew what it was- and stayed to his/her left the whole way back to Alpha Trion's before breaking off and driving around Trion's home to the back door. I noted the yellow-orange truck didn't follow me.

I slipped into an idle stop before transforming and gathering the scrapmetal in my arms again, wondering who the yellow Autobot was and how well Alpha Trion knew him. I put some of the longer pieces of metal against the side of the house, sorting through the rest for anything I might be able to use that Alpha Trion couldn't. Finding nothing, I sighed and picked up the remaining pieces and walked through the back door into the house. The back kitchen door slammed shut behind me, rattling angrily as it bounced once before settling into it's shut position. _Need to fix that at some point_, I silently told myself and walked across the kitchen to the main hallway. As I approached the workshop that Alpha Trion worked in, I heard Trion and the visitor talking.

"So you passed him on your way here, Sentinel?" I heard Alpha Trion laugh.

"Passed him once, and got passed _by_ him. Who is he, Alpha Trion?" The visitor asked. I hesitated at the open doorway, realizing neither of them had heard me come in and didn't know I was at the door.

"He's the lad I told you about when I called you the other day," Alpha Trion answered. Sentinel sighed, "What is his name?"

"Optronix," I said, stepping past the doorway over to the table. Both jumped and turned to look at me. I saw Sentinel's hand flash towards his subpocket and something flashed through my mind. I quickly dropped the scrapmetal on the table and snapped my arms up in a guard. Again, both seemed taken back. I felt my optics flicker uneasily as I looked between them with a faint sense of alarm, unsure of what to do. Sentinel relaxed suddenly, and brought his hand away from his pocket empty.

"My apologies... I... you startled me coming up on us like that..." Sentinel said shakily, giving me an apologetic smile. "So you're Optronix?" He asked. I hesitantly lowered my guard.

"Yes," I said softly. Sentinel glanced at Alpha Trion.

"He's a quiet one, isn't he?"

"Optronix can be quite loud when he chooses to be," Trion answered, smiling warmly at me. "He may seem to be a 'quiet one' as you call it, but I don't think it's because he's afraid to talk; When he talks, he has something to say- and he says it quite pointedly, if he has to." I smiled at that and turned slightly to sort the scrapmetal I'd brought in by size with one hand, keeping an optic on Sentinel curiously. "By the way, Optronix," Alpha Trion added, "This is Sentinel Prime."

_Prime?_ The name shot through my mind and I snapped my head up. "The Leader of the Autobots and Matrix of Leadership holder; Prime?" I asked, feeling my optics glow a little brighter ever since I'd first activated. Sentinel Prime looked stunned, and Alpha Trion stared at me again. I shifted uneasily, wondering why they were both looking like I'd just told them the most shocking thing in their life. "What?" I demanded, my voice somewhat louder than I'd spoken yet today. Sentinel shook his head sharply.

"Interesting..." He murmured, before sending me a curious smile. "Not many know about the Matrix of Leadership; Much less that it symbolizes the true leader of the Autobots," Sentinel explained.

"I wonder how you know..." Trion mused, drawing in on himself like he usually did when he was thinking seriously about something. I felt myself smile faintly. "You always wonder about me, Trion," I pointed out. He laughed, "Indeed, that seems to be the case... Optronix, why don't you go get us some cubes of Energon-1 for us?"

I knew an attempt at a individual talk when I saw one. I quickly left to get three cubes from the container in the kitchen...

* * *

Alpha Trion and Sentinel Prime watched Optronix leave the room before Trion turned to the yellow Autobot. Sentinel looked thoughtfully after the small bot, wondering at the clear sense of knowledge the red, blue and silver bot had shown. 

"He can't stay here, Sentinel. It's too far dangerous, and I can't take him with me to Autobot City," Trion said quietly. "The lad's gone through too much to stay here so close to Atlantis, and I can't teach him what he needs to know. He needs time to heal, to start again... to _live_ again. There is no way I can offer that to him as far as you could."

"So that's why you wanted me to come see him?"

"No, actually. I mentioned you briefly- though I _didn't _tell him your name- and he said he'd like to meet you. Became rather persistent about it, really..."

"Haha," Sentinel laughed lightly, finding the thought rather amusing that such a small, young bot could press the old, patient Alpha Trion into doing something for him. Then he remembered how _hard_ that was to do. He let out an impressed whistle. "If he can convince you to convince me to come out here, he's definitely got persuasive skills..."

"He's apparently got _more _than just persuasive skills," Trion muttered, now examining some of the pieces of metal Optronix had brought in. "He finds the most useful pieces of scrapmetal out there for me and somehow manages to find some for himself while he's-_eep_!" Trion squeaked, dropping a piece as Optronix himself pressed a cold glass of Energon against his neck. Sentinel laughed, already holding his glass as Trion spun around to face Optronix's amused, glimmering optics.

"You're a load of trouble when you sneak up on bots like that!" Trion scolded, taking the glass from Optronix. "It's a wonder you haven't given me a spark attack yet..." He mumbled, before joining in with Sentinel and Optronix's laughter. They stood in silence for a moment, before Sentinel Prime sighed.

"I suppose I could take him with me. Primus knows I have plenty of room at my place," Sentinel said finally. Optronix glanced between them curiously, keeping silent as if he was waiting for some final verdict of sorts. Trion smiled a tired, relieved smile.

"Thank you, Sentinel. Optronix, go get your things; Sentinel's going to take you home for a long time..." The two of them watched as the young bot seemed to instantly vanish out the door.

"_Fast_, quiet kid," Sentinel Prime reassessed the red, blue, and silver bot.

"I've noticed," Alpha Trion sighed... ... ...

* * *

Subi: There is no way to express how happy I am about the fact that I've finally returned to this story that's been hiding away in one of the TF personas that tend to mysteriously show up in my head... Oo And my parents say I don't have multiple personalities... (cough) Riiight... They've never seen me on a root beer streak/withdrawal... ... ... >> 


	11. Third Home

Subi: Sorry, Spiritprime, that's not until a long, long while later. Not even in this part of the series. Oo Hate to disappoint you so... Oh well, I have my reasons. XP

**

* * *

11. Third Home**

I was sorting through things in my room, trying to decide what I could bring with me and what to leave behind. There wasn't much for me to leave behind to begin with, so it was really a matter of _how _to bring it all. I sighed, leaning against the wall as I slowly looked around. I was definitely bringing my trailer 'project'- I felt compelled to finish it since it was only a basic, sheet metal frame of whatever it would end up to be. A possibility entered my mind, and pulling out the second part under the outer frame, I examined the top part of the piece thoughtfully.

_I can probably cut a section out of that, and use it like a storage box, seeing as it's empty..._ I snatched the welding tool off my desk. Quickly making three cuts and a half-cut on one side, I had a place to stash my extra projects and unfinished circuitry systems for my trailer. It was only a matter of moments before I had all I needed inside of my makeshift storage box.

"Optronix!" Trion called down the hallway. I quickly pushed the top of the 'box' I'd temporarily made shut, calling back to him, "One moment!" I glanced around my room one last time, and a picture (Trion had found it before I'd activated) caught my attention. I quickly picked it up, and glancing at it once, put it in my subspace pocket. Finding nothing else I needed, I transformed, using my energy-fields to attach the trailer to my legs, and slowly drove down the hallway to the door.

"Ready," I told Trion, and he looked down at me in surprise. He then patted me on the top of my cab gently.

"Goodbye, Optronix. Until we meet again."

"Goodbye, old friend," I answered, and carefully drove down the walkway to where Sentinel was waiting. Sentinel looked down at me curiously until he realized it was me, and laughed at himself.

"You sure know how to change your look," He chuckled, transforming himself and starting off. I followed him northwards, only checking my rear-view mirrors once before resigning myself to the fact I was about to start on a new pathway to help the Autobots...

* * *

"Optronix?" 

"Yes, Sentinel?"

"You don't have any unregistered weapons, do you?"

"I don't know if my rifle is unregistered."

"Do you have a permit for it?"

"I don't know. Trion never told me."

"Iacon has a weapons check, maybe you should let me hold onto it until we get into the city and get you a permit for it," Sentinel suggested, transforming beside me.

"That's probably a good idea..." I unlocked the magnetic fields that held my rifle to my trailer. A gold line ran around the front third of my forward, upper-right of the my trailer, outlining a zig-zagged circumference around one of the white 'rails' that stretched from the back of my trailer to almost the back of my cab in my alt. mode. Sentinel quickly caught my rifle as it fell, and a wondering look flashed across his face at the lack of weight it had. He examined it carefully.

"It's so... _light_..."

"I've fiddled with it to make it lighter."

"It must have just the basic components to make it so light," He noted. I laughed.

"It's not a rifle if it's just 'basic components'."

"Then what's it made of?"

"Various materials melted together. A word of advice, though: Don't fire it unless you have a lot of people after you and you want to take them out."

"You've done more than a few modifications then," Sentinel said with a faint sense of amazement and disbelief on his face. I shrugged inwardly, though it went unseen by Sentinel, "Changes are necessary to survive." He looked at me silently with an unreadable look, clearly thinking about what I'd just said.

"I suppose you would know that the best," Sentinel said quietly, carefully putting my rifle in his left subspace pocket. I said nothing in return as he transformed again and we started towards the edge of the city. We reached the weapon check station a little while later, and Sentinel transformed near the edge where few would see him and walked the rest of the way. For my part, I stayed in my alt. mode to keep my trailer with me. A purple and yellow mech waved us over.

"I'll check you. Oh hey Sentinel, you're becoming quite the regular around here," The mech said, recognizing Sentinel's yellow-orange paint job. Sentinel nodded, smiling softly.

"Who wouldn't be with so many things going on outside of Iacon?"

"True enough I suppose. That red truck with you?"

"Yes."

"I'll have to look that over closely, no telling what it might have."

"Most likely just a personality that might knock your titanium boots off if you poke it the wrong way, Fritz," Sentinel chuckled. Fritz laughed and ran a scanner over it, frowning suddenly as he ran it over the back area of my cab and trailer.

"What's it made out of, Sentinel?"

"I... don't know," Sentinel frowned as well. "Probably several types of metal smelted together."

"Well whatever its got don't like my scanner. I'll have to get a stronger one. I'll be a moment," Fritz said as he walked over to one of the other weapon checkers. Sentinel waited until he was out of audio range before leaning closer to me. "Why didn't you say anything?" He asked.

"Why should I? You handled fine."

"What _are_ you made out of?"

"No clue."

"That's not helpful."

"Tell me about it. If I don't know, how am I supposed to be repaired right?"

"Good point," Sentinel agreed. "I'm going to go see if I can find a permit for you to have your rifle legally."

"Alright." Sentinel walked over to one of the officers further away, while I waited for Fritz to return. Presently, a small group of bots came over, sneering at me.

"What do you know, Tripwire? A hauler doing out here with no one watching it." A black and yellow one leered. "You suppose its got anything worthwhile?"

"If it did, it wouldn't be sitting in weapons check." The dark red and purple one snorted. He kicked at my back wheels. "It's probably useless. Can't go anywhere or nothin." I fought down a growl. _If they get my wheels out of alignment, they're going to be fixing it..._

"Yeah you're probably right. Only thing its probably useful for is scrap." Another one kicked my side even harder, and a resounding rattle ran through me. What little systems in my trailer suddenly sent the feeling of damage, and something in me snapped. I transformed sharply, and took two steps around my trailer. The three bots shrank back from me, finding that I was at least twice as tall as them.

"If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you didn't kick me," I growled threateningly, feeling my optics flash. They seemed to shrink away even more.

"Yes sir," they said together. I swept my hand to the side lightly in a 'Well then?' gesture. They glanced at each other, helped one of themselves stand up, and ran away, looking somewhat afraid of me. I turned back and took two steps back to where I'd been, glancing in Sentinel's direction to find him watching me curiously. I shrugged at him, and was about to transform when Fritz returned. I mentally kicked myself, and remained in my robot mode as he scanned my trailer.

"Hey... where'd the cab go?" Fritz asked himself, rubbing his head in confusion. I smiled faintly, "Right here." He yelped and spun to face me in surprise, finding my calm, gentle optics watching him cautiously. He blinked uncertainly as Sentinel came over. Sentinel was smiling.

"I said he was with me. You're the one who assumed he was just a hauler," Sentinel reminded him. Fritz shook his head.

"I guess... You're all clear then- since I'm assuming what I couldn't scan in _you_ is your sparkbox," Fritz said, referring to me at the end. I nodded, and transformed back as soon as he looked away. He looked over his shoulder at where I'd been standing, then glanced down at me in my alt mode. Sentinel started away from the weapons check, heading into the city. I laughed at the look on Fritz's face as I followed Sentinel...

* * *

"Welcome home, Optronix," Sentinel opened the door to a large, mansion-like house and stepped inside. I hesitated, glancing back at my trailer near the walkway, before following him in. I paused in the entry way, noting the plain walls- and the mess of everything else. As I looked around, a sense of being _home_ filled me, and I felt myself relaxing for the first time since I could remember. Sentinel noticed something different and frowned worriedly. 

"Are you alright Optronix?" He asked, concerned. I turned and looked into his optics slowly.

"I'm fine. I can't remember a time where I've ever felt better," I told him truthfully. He nodded.

"Go ahead and have a look around. But if you find my room- and you'll know it when you see it- please don't go in. There's things you shouldn't get into in there."

"Alright," I said, and began to explore the house... ... ...

* * *

Subi: Also, I don't know if you're reading this, Zarius, but something you've said in a Swords review gave me an idea. Henceforth, there shall be an Autobot named in your great honor that appears later: _Zarius Prime_. I hope you don't mind. Oo Random blips of stuff provide very odd pieces of inspiration- 'tis why I ask for reviews. oo So. Review please, all who read. 


	12. Sentinel Prime

Subi: Long chapter! Muahahahaha... And yes, I got into sugarish stuff and root beer again. oo; Don't tell Prime. >>;

**

* * *

12. Sentinel Prime **

I watched in curiosity as Optronix spent little time exploring the house, peering into rooms briefly before moving on to the next one. I puzzled at why he only spent a short amount looking until I gave up trying to figure it out on my own.

"Why are you only glancing in each room instead of staying in one room and finding where everything is?" I finally asked him. He merely glanced at me and kept going, answering as he went, "Why look closely when there might be a time where there's nothing to do _but_ explore the house? As long as I know where everything basically is, I don't need to know where it is exactly. Both you and Alpha Trion said I'd be here awhile, so details can wait for awhile." I nodded understandably. _Of course. If you know where vaguely where something is, you know where to go to look for it if you really need it later on, especially if you're short on time currently and will have more later,_ I thought, and then the realization hit me of how much more effective it would be if I was working in a military resistance base somewhere and was possibly short on time. _Interesting..._ I watched Optronix as he came down the hallway and pause by the stairway, peering up the stairs.

"Those are mostly bedrooms up there. You can pick the one you like the best as yours- if it isn't mine," I added. He laughed slightly and then carefully started up them to explore upstairs. I watched as he paused at my bedroom door for a moment before turning and going into the one next to it instead. I blinked my optics in surprise, having expected him to at least open the door and glance in, not turn to the next one and ignore my door like he already knew it was mine. When he came out of the room he went in, he completely ignored the door to my room like it was merely a wall and moved to the next door further away. Wonderment filled me again. _Why did he skip my door? Is there some sort of trace on it that he noticed that made him realize it was my door and not simply another room?_ I was brought out of my thoughts as Optronix easily bounded down the stairs and landed gracefully at the floor on his feet. I looked at him, my wonder and curiosity growing. Even I couldn't do what he just did, and I was a lot older than he was.

"Are younger bots just reckless, or have you done that before somewhere?" I asked, trying to keep the incredulous tone out of my voice. He straightened, and met my optics with his. "No idea."

I stared at him. "You really don't know much about yourself, do you?"

"Not much."

"Do you even know where you were created?"

"Uhm..."

"No?"

"I'm getting two answers for that." I blinked. _Two answers?_ I wondered. He shrugged, seemingly as puzzled as I was. "Sounds weird, doesn't it? I can't even say for sure where I was created."

"Well, at least two answers are better than no answer; It gives you somewhere to start.," I said.

"Then could you tell me what 'Urnsat Major' is, exactly?"

"...Where?" I tilted my head at him, confused. _This conversation just gets stranger and stranger by the moment..._ He sighed, "Guess not." He started past me towards the door. "I'm going to go work on one of my projects outside."

"Don't weld yourself to it," I warned him, and he bounded out the door and down the walkway towards his trailer, laughing. I stared after him for a moment before shaking my head and going into the library-like room across the hall. "I think I signed up for a very confusing, puzzling mystery that mech's got in his processors..." I muttered, and began searching my bookshelves for anything that might involve getting double answers from memories and this 'Urnsat Major' place Optronix mentioned...

* * *

I'd pulled out the second part of my trailer and put it to the side and fixed the small damage that my trailer'd received at the weapons check. I'd been relieved to find the only thing that was damaged was a misaligned circuit board or two and a dent in the side of the plating. It only took a moment for me to fix it, and I was now fiddling with the locks that held the second, blue part of my trailer to the main frame of it since it had been rattling funny since we got to Iacon- Or maybe it always rattled, and I just didn't notice putting it down to the uneven ground on the way here? In any case, I was tightening the locks now, and working more systems into my trailer while I'd taken some paneling off. 

"Optronix?" Sentinel's sudden voice took me by surprise, and I hit my head on one of the support bars of my trailer i was half-lying under.

"Ow... Yes, Sentinel?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," He apologized as I pulled myself out from under my trailer to look at him as he continued, "I found this book in my library, it mentions Urnsat Major briefly, noting that it's a Energon mining colony."

"That sounds right..." I said, frowning as something flashed through my mind. _**... "Eleven years mining for this government- how can you say I'm a traitor?" ... ... "Coming, Akinyemi?" ... ... "No, he's innocent! He'd never steal, never do anything treasonous!"... ... "Welcome to Atlantis City, Akinyemi. This is your home for now."... ... "Ariel! Orion! No!" ... "... And you're in the way..." In the way...** In the way..._ The memories tore at me, along with a sudden burning feeling in my chest...

"Optronix?.!" I could feel Sentinel's hands on my shoulder's. My optics were dimming... fading into darkness... ...

* * *

My optics slowly came on, flickering slightly as they adjusted to the lack of light in the room. _In the room?_ I turned my head slightly, and found I was on a recharge bed, in a plain, grey room with a desk not far away, a window above it, and a door in the furthest wall from me. I knew I recognized the room from somewhere, but it took a moment for it to click. _Sentinel's home_, I realized before hearing soft voices outside in the hallway. 

"He'll be fine, Sentinel. Just don't push at him to remember something and you probably wont have a problem."

"Remember? Does he have some sort of memory problem?"

"It seems that he has several years of locked files. Something caused a memory file upload, unlocking some random files throughout them- though most look like they're more recent files, within the past year, probably. His systems did mention that he's registered as a Junior in Oceania Academy, in Atlantis City, that got shut down. You might want to talk with him later about registering at Gliximaxiin Academy; It's the closest curriculum academy to the one his systems say he went to."

"When he gets better, right?"

"Probably a wise idea."

"Alright, thank you, Ratchet."

"Don't mention it, though would you do me a favor and ask how many levels of wires he's got from his armor to his main vital systems? It took me several times to try to figure my way around through the first levels to his quandary systems that access primary functions for repairs..."

"Quandary systems?"

"He's got at least four level systems, yes. Like I said, ask him how many wire levels there are. Its unusual to have that many levels to access a system like that, much less to have four systems to try to access."

"I'll ask him later then."

"Thanks, Sentinel." I listened as I heard a door slide shut and Sentinel's footsteps returning up the stairs and down the hallway towards the door. I brought my gaze back from the ceiling to look at Sentinel as he came in with a glass of Energon.

"Are you feeling better, Optronix?" He asked, putting the glass on the desk within my reach and gently putting the back of his hand against my forehead.

"Gliximaxiin Academy?" I asked. He looked down at me in surprise.

"So you heard us talking then," Sentinel half asked, half noted.

"Yes. Gliximaxiin Academy?" I repeated questioningly. He smiled slightly at my persistence.

"It's a school where various mechs from around the city go to to learn circuitry, history, data entry and archival, basic defense combat, sciences, and a lot of other curriculum," Sentinel explained. "Do you want to see if you can sign up for the next semester when you get better?"

I nodded, and he gently patted my shoulder. "Alright then, we'll go see if we can register you in a few days after you're rested."... ... ...

* * *

Subi: (dancing around) Seeee! When inspired right, it's amazing what one can do! XD Does this include inspiring readers to review? Oo... We could test this theory, but I think it'd fail... 


	13. Gliximaxiin Academy

Subi: Posting spree! >D ... Yes, I'm in one of 'those moods'. Muahahahaha!

**

* * *

13. Gliximaxiin Academy**

I happily bounded up the walkway to the auditorium of Gliximaxiin Academy, wondering what my senior year was going to be like, since the counselor had said my scores were high enough to be a senior in the next semester. I quickly slipped in through one of the closed doors and into the dimly lit academy, and found myself in the midst of a semi-full audience stands with mechs and femmes standing in groups of their friends talking. My light blue optics took in the scene in one sweep, and I slowly started down one of the stair aisles, looking for an empty seat I could get into easily. I brushed against a mostly white and red bot, with some black accents, and we turned to face each other.

"I'm sorry," The two of us said at the same time. The other mech smiled while a green and black bot behind him laughed slightly.

"I'm Perceptor, this is Hound. You?"

"Optronix," I introduced myself with a faint nod. "What level are you?"

"Sophomore," Perceptor answered.

"Senior," I said. Hound added in, "I'm a Junior here."

"I haven't seen you here before, you new?" Perceptor asked.

"I just transferred from Oceania Academy in Atlantis."

"Oh, I heard they were real into mathematics and stuff," Hound noted.

"Actually, I know more about history than they knew what to do with, but essentially, they press on calculations and data entry. Atlantis was a huge trading port for off-planet trade," I told them.

" 'Was'?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said, turning away. Perceptor caught the hint. "Alright, I guess we'll see you around, Optronix."

" 'Til all are one," I answered, quoting one of the historic sayings. Perceptor laughed and echoed, " 'Til all are one," as he climbed the steps after Hound. I turned and resumed my 'quest' to find a empty seat. A younger voice caught my attention as I neared the lowest row of seats, and I glanced up to see a mostly blue and red mech arguing with a taller, black and red femme.

"Those are _my_ datapads! Can't you go get your own?" The smaller mech whined, trying to get his datapads back. The femme slowly shook her head.

"No, they're _my_ datapads," She said, with a perfect, sad smile, her light green optics glowing faintly.

"No they aren't! My father gave them to me before he died- will you _please_ give them back?.!" He tried to get them again, but she merely pulled them further out of reach. I noticed a black and gold femme further away watching, giggling. I looked back at the other two, and understood what was happening. I took a few steps over, and gently took the datapads out of the femme's hands. She whirled around to face me, with an alarmed look on her face.

"I don't think these are yours," I said mildly, staring into her green optics as she drew back. She hissed slightly, spun around, and stalked over to her black and gold friend. I watched her go before turning to the small mech and held the datapads out to him. "You might want to keep those in your pockets if you aren't using them," I advised. His white face lifted somewhat to look at me, and his semi-dark blue optics gazed up at me wonderingly.

"You're... You're not going to try to keep them?" He asked, looking somewhat astonished.

"They aren't mine," I said, shrugging. "And I don't think they were hers either." He shook his head.

"They're mine. My dad really _did_ give them to me before he got killed. My name is Ultra Magnus," He added, sitting down on one of the chairs in the front row. I noticed there was an empty seat next to him.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" I asked. He glanced at me and shook his head, "Go ahead." I noticed he stashed his datapads in his subspace pocket as he said this, and I sat down next to him just as the academy principal, Gliximaxiin himself, walked onto the stage and picked up the microphone off of the ground.

"If you all would kindly take a seat, we'll get started listing off first-class homerooms, who will give you your schedules for the rest of the schoolday for the next semester," the old, dull-brown and green mech began, and the other students in the hall began to find their seats again...

* * *

"Neat! Isn't this great?" Magnus chirped next to me as we walked to our next class together. I couldn't help but laugh, "I guess, if you consider getting a class together 'great'." 

"Aww, where's your sense of humor?" He snickered.

"I think I lost it half a year ago," I muttered. Magnus didn't hear me. "I wonder who else has Driving Education with us, anyone you think you'll know?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I just transferred from another city's Academy. I'm new here."

"Oh. Then maybe you can make new friends in this class so you won't be so alone," Magnus suggested, his voice softening near the end. I noted that the word 'alone' was almost a whisper, and frowned slightly.

"Are _you_ alone?"

"What?" He looked up at me sharply, something flickering in his optics.

"Are you alone?" I repeated. He looked away and didn't say anything. I somehow understood he wasn't going to answer, and I turned my gaze back to look for our classroom. _He **is** alone... I can feel it from him... Oh Magnus, we are so much more alike than we realize..._ I thought silently, before locating the door to the Driving Education class. "There's the classroom," I said, changing the subject. Magnus looked up and found the door as well, and we both entered the room...

* * *

Subi: (cackles) Complications! Muahahaha! ... Is there even anyone reading this story? Oo  



	14. Files

Subi: Ina, you are loved! n-n You get an honorary chapter. XD

**

* * *

14. Files**

_Well, this has been an interesting day so far,_ I thought to myself as I stared at my finished math assignment. It was the third class of the day, right before lunch break, and I'd finished far ahead of everyone one else, including my newest friends Nuponic, Wavestream, and Datamist, who where sitting in the desks closest to me. Nuponic was mainly a medium green color, accented with pieces of dark blue on his shoulders, knees, and chest, his orange optics contrasting rather sharply with his black face and blue helmet. Wavestream was almost completely a light blue, with highlights of white on his arms, legs, and waist, and dark blue optics. Datamist's armor was grey, with accents of green, and green optics.

On the other side of the room, I recognized Jetfire, ScanZone, Red Alert, and First Aid from my previous class, also working away on the assignment. ScanZone was the only Decepticon in the class, and looked a lot like Perceptor, only with his colors switched so he was mostly black. I had discovered in the previous class that it was hard to figure out the difference from Red Alert and First Aid, seeing both were mostly white with red and blue accents- I'd only pieced together Red Alert was the one with a red optic line instead of optics and First Aid had light blue optics near the end of the circuitology class. Jetfire had also been in the same, previous class, and he was mostly white and black, with hints of gold and red in random places of his frame. I found his gold optics the most interesting part about him, due to my curious knowledge of legends. The fact that several of the legends mentioned that gold optics were usually the optic color of some of the most powerful warriors left me wondering if there was something unseen that'd been written in for his future that no one else knew about.

I'd been somewhat surprised when I had first walked into Shivani's classroom earlier and found I knew almost the entire class already. I mentally dismissed it now, and thoughtfully scrolled through notes on my datapad in front of me. My short, one-sided conversation with Ultra Magnus earlier this morning hung in the front of my mind, making it difficult to concentrate on reading the circuitology notes from the previous class.

I paused as an idea popped into my head: I was good at data archival, and I'd proved myself capable of hacking into almost anything remotely when I'd been at Alpha Trion's house; Maybe I could hack into old file systems in the Iacon database to look for information about what might've made Magnus feel so lonely. Inspired by the hope to help him, I tapped in the commands that would allow me to access the right sources. A moment later, I found the file I was looking for. I quickly read over the report, feeling part of my spark run cold as I double-checked the date. _Before Atlantis fell._ Immediately I knew I had to do everything I could to help Magnus get better, and I started about the task of hacking into a more secure system to find out more about the event that'd caused him to be so lonely...

"Uh, Optronix?" I looked up into Nuponic's curious, orange optics. "Are you going to sit there and read notes all lunch or are you coming with us?" He asked. I blinked and glanced at the clock near the door, surprised to find it was ten minutes into the lunch break. I laughed quietly at myself and stood.

"Lost track of time," I apologized before snatching the datapad up before Nuponic could see what I'd been doing. He looked at me suspiciously.

"What was that on the screen?"

"What was what?" I countered neutrally, heading towards the door as I tapped a few commands into the datapad, ignoring the odd look Wavestream and Datamist exchanged.

"What is whatever you're working on?" Nuponic said, sounding a little more uncertain than the moment before. I gave him a somewhat secretive smile and answered, "Notes, what else?" Wavestream moaned slightly.

"Optronix, you're _way _too into school stuff."

"You said it, Wavestream," Nuponic agreed. Datamist shrugged slightly. "There's nothing wrong with liking school- it gives us something to keep us out of trouble with." Nuponic and Wavestream stared at him.

"You're both crazy," They said together. Datamist and I laughed, and I shut off my datapad as I finished logging out of the system I'd hacked. I changed the subject somewhat.

"What class do you guys have next?"

"English with Girara," Nuponic said flatly, not sounding particularly interested. Wavestream, on the other hand looked thrilled.

"Me too!" Wavestream was practically bouncing along with us now. I smiled softly, though somehow being in the front of the group kept it hidden. "I have Girara next as well," I said before turning to Datamist. "What about you?"

"No, I have Roadfire next." Datamist looked somewhat unhappy, and I placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Roadfire and Kup teach driving education. You'll probably find it rather easy today cause they're just taking notes."

"Thanks Optronix," Datamist said, with a relieved smile on his face. I nodded, turned, and raced Wavestream to the lunchroom. Nuponic and Datamist laughed and chased after us, catching up to us quickly and running with us as we hurried to the lunchroom for some Energon...

* * *

We'd found an empty table and commandeered it, and somehow found that our group of friends was bigger than the table fit. However, the twelve of us still gathered around it for the lunch break, resulting in three or four conversations going on at once. I fiddled with my datapad, trying to get it to send a message to Sentinel Prime asking if Magnus could stay with us if I kept him out of trouble, only the datapad was being very stubborn about a lack of connection in the cafeteria. Finally losing my patience with trying to find a reasonable connection, I hacked into the school system's wireless connection and sent it that way, not realizing Jetfire was looking over my shoulder curiously. 

"How'd you do that?" He asked. I yelped, jumping to my feet, and swung at him- and would have hit him if he hadn't ducked. "Calm your circuits!" He exclaimed, taking a step back. Jetfire looked at me warily. "It was just a question, yeesh..."

"Yeah... sorry, Jetfire," I said slowly, aware that everyone else was staring at me. I shook my head and sat down again, trying to push away the shaking feeling I had. "Just... don't do that again," I sighed finally, glancing back at him as he moved back next to me.

"Got it. But how did you do that?"

"Hacked the school system," I muttered, not really wanting to be called on it. Jetfire, Red Alert, First Aid, and Perceptor stared at me.

"You _hacked_ the school system?"

"Where on Cybertron did you learn how to do _that_?"

"I didn't think that was even possible!"

"Is _that_ what you were working on during the second half of Shivani's class?" I shrugged indifferently at the questions they fired off, wondering at how the other half of our group of friends seemed completely out of it and not noticing our conversation. My datapad beeped at me a moment later, signaling Sentinel had answered. I quickly scrolled through his answer, feeling my spark soar as Sentinel agreed under the condition Magnus and I went out for the evening if he had a group of friends over. With a sense of accomplishment, I gently slipped through our group of friends to go find Magnus and offer him a place to stay before Iacon's orphanage got a hold of him...

* * *

Subi: And the scary thing is I wrote this in an hour at midnight last night. oo; 


	15. Friends and Foes

Subi: Chapters forever! 'Tis a writing/posting spree!... Don't you just love it when you have all day to sit there and type on a fanfiction seemingly forever?

**

* * *

15. Friends and Foes**

It only took me a moment to find Magnus, since he was sitting by himself at a table, trying to keep a low profile. I walked right up to him, and paused, looking down at him curiously.

"Magnus?" He looked up sharply, and turned to face me, looking a little alarmed until he found it was me.

"Optronix... I... Is there something you wanted?" His dark blue optics flickered slightly. I gently put a hand on his shoulder and smiled softly at him.

"I know what happened," I said quietly, watching him closely. His optics went dim, and he looked back at me almost fearfully. I continued on, "I sent a message to the mech I'm staying with- I guess you could call him my dad- and he said you could stay with us if you don't mind being kicked out with me occasionally when he has some of his work friends over." I smiled reassuringly at him, and a relieved look crossed his face, followed by curiosity.

"The two of you are willing to take me in?"

"No one deserves to be alone after what you've gone through," I whispered, recalling my own pain and loneliness from Atlantis. Magnus examined me hesitantly, before standing and hugging me.

"No one should be alone," He agreed, pulling away. "Thanks, Optronix. I needed someone to tell me that. I'll stay with you." I smiled down at him.

"Meet me by the front gate of the Academy after school, I'll walk you home from there."

"Alright," Magnus said, nodding his head. I turned away slightly and took two steps before stopping short, noticing that the black and red femme from this morning was back with her friend and another mech, who was also mostly black, with red flames painted on his armor. I stayed, giving them a wary look as they headed towards Magnus and myself.

"Hey kid, you going to eat that?" The mech asked, his red optics glowing at Magnus, who nodded. I glared at the mech.

"Leave Magnus alone," I growled. The gold and black femme practically laughed at me.

"Oh _look_, Crushingor! Mr. Datapad-rescuer wants you to pick on _him_ instead," She sneered. Crushingor looked at me, and laughed.

"He thinks he can take a senior on... Riiight," He snorted. I felt myself bristle slightly.

"I _am_ a senior. Leave Magnus alone," I repeated, sending the black and red femme a warning look.

"Hah! _You_? A senior? What a laugh! SpiralFox _and_ Traya can take you down! And they're a Junior and Sophomore!" Crushingor laughed. "You're just a freshman who's tall and thinks he can do anything!" He reached for Magnus's Energon cube. Something in me snapped, and in two steps I was in his way, blocking him from getting to Magnus and his Energon. Crushingor snarled and pulled back to glare at me.

"Move it, freshie."

"Leave. Magnus. Alone."

"No, you slagging Freshman! Get out of the way before I nail you!"

"Try it," I growled. Magnus stared at my back in astonishment of the threat in my voice. Crushingor jumped at me, and I brought back a fist and hit him in the shoulder, hard. The black and red mech was thrown to the ground. He struggled to sit up, his shoulder sparking angrily as SpiralFox and Traya ran over to him.

"Are you alright, Crushingor?" One of them asked as they tried to help him stand.

"Get off me!" He growled, standing up himself and glaring at me. "Don't think this is over," He snarled, before storming out of the cafeteria towards the nurse's office. I watched him go before giving the two femmes a look that sent them scampering away. A moment later, Jetfire escaped from our group table and bounded over to me.

"You still throwing stuff around, Optronix?"

"Oh be quiet, Jetfire," I mumbled, glancing at Magnus in embarrassment. The smaller mech giggled at me, making me scowl at Jetfire for mentioning my earlier punch that'd been aimed at him. The white and black seeker shrugged.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," he joked.

"Some help you are," I sighed. Magnus was laughing now, along with Jetfire. I gave up trying to get them to stop, and turned to the red, blue, and white bot as the laughter died down. "You can always come sit with our group whenever you want," I told him. Magnus nodded, "Alright. See you later then."

I turned to Jetfire and firmly pointed towards the table. He grinned. "You got it, Big bot... Amon! Help!" He ran as I leapt at him, and I chased him back to our group while some onlookers laughed.

"What was all that about?" Datamist asked as we got back, Jetfire immediately going behind Wavestream, Prowl, and Red Alert in an attempt to get away from me. I grinned sharply and said nothing. Datamist got an odd, somewhat freaked out look on his face. "Okay then..."

"We could do a probability estimate of the possibility that Jetfire said something and pushed Optronix over the edge... Or we could calculate the likelihood of Optronix's sanity compared to a keyboard where the right combinations of buttons shuts down a computer- or in this case Optronix's thought process... Or we could-"

"Shut up, Nuponic!" The four of us chorused.

"Okay."

"By Primus..." Jetfire muttered, putting his face in his hands. Wavestream shook his head in annoyance while Red Alert and Prowl jumped into a different conversation at the table. For my part, I went back to reading my notes from my previous classes...

* * *

Subi: Amusement! Muahahahaha!... Funny what a can of rootbeer can do to one's frame of mind. Oo 


	16. Handwriting

Subi: I'm going to kill G1 Soundwave, I swear. He got a song stuck in my head, now he's going to pay dearly... oo; Uhm, yeah... You either know, or you don't want to know...

**

* * *

16. Handwriting**

"Can anyone tell me what 'Amon' means?" Girara asked from in front of the room. I raised my hand, much to Wavestream, Nuponic, and Girara's dismay. "Yes, Optronix?"

"Amon has two true definitions, one meaning 'hidden one'; another, when put into a different context, can mean 'the end'. Due to alterations across the universe, 'amon' can also refer to a shadow, or something that follows someone," I said, completely ignoring the looks on their faces. Girara nodded slowly.

"Correct... Amon is one of the few words that have been sourced to be from a planet in the Omni System, Urnsat Major. Though 'amon' is more commonly used as 'the end' here on Cybertron, on Urnsat Major, and its close sattilite, Urnsat Minor, 'Amon' is generally used to mean 'the hidden one'. As you'll learn in your history- or mythology- classes, Urnsat Major and its nearby colonies were first brought to the Omni System by an Amon. As our first, in-class assignment, we're going to look through our books to find more words from this lost system, and translating them into our language. We're also going to be practicing our handwriting skills in this class, so expect everything to be handwritten on flimsi." Most of the class groaned at this. I, however, was quite thrilled at the concept that we were going over a language I was well familiar with, though this didn't go unnoticed by my friends.

"You're actually happy about this, aren't you, Optronix?" Nuponic moaned, looking somewhat stressed. "They say Urnsat Major's language is the hardest to learn..."

"I wouldn't know, I grew up with it," I said happily, digging through my subspace pocket, looking for a pen.

"You 'grew up with it'? Where'd you grow up?" Wavestream asked, already waiting for the flimsi to reach us.

"Where would Urnsat Major's language be most used?" I countered, finally finding the pen. Hound handed the flimsi back to me, and I took it and passed it out to the rest of us in the back. I put my piece flat on the desk and quickly wrote my name across the top before going to get books for the four of us.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me..." Nuponic said, somewhat loudly. Girara shot him a look from the front of the room. "Err... sorry to disrupt the class," Nuponic apologized quickly. Girara looked back down at the papers she was correcting from the previous class. Wavestream hissed slightly as I came back and passed them a book, "You're from Urnsat Major?" I shrugged indifferently at him.

"Hey, you got some pretty fancy handwrittin', Optronix," Hound noted, peering at my paper curiously. I felt myself blush slightly as I snatched my sheet of flimsi away.

"Its not _that _fancy..." I mumbled, embarrassed. Hound laughed softly, "Sure it is! Lots'a loops and curls... It looks nice."

"Really?" I looked at him warily, not sure if he was joking or not. Wavestream leaned over his desk slightly.

"Can I see?"

"Well..."

"Please, Optronix?"

"Alright!" I held it out for him to look, somewhat irritated.

"... Wow, Optronix, that looks cool," Wavestream smiled good-naturedly and went back to hunting down words. Nuponic took a quick glance at it as I put the piece of flimsi back on my desk.

"That _is_ really good, Optronix... Not many can write like that." I felt my faceplate warming slightly, and I busied myself by writing down some of the more commonly used words that I'd noticed had made their way to Cybertron...

"Alright, time's up. I'm going to have you correct your own papers by each other's definitions. Optronix, can you let them-?"

"Sure." Girara gave me an odd look.

"Alright then," She said, looking somewhat uncertian of what to make of me before continuing, "How many of you found the meaning of 'dovev'?..."

* * *

Subi: XD Optronix got into a debate about wether or not his handwriting is fancy or not... By Primus, that's amusing to think about. n-n If you aren't reviewing, you might end up with a G1 Soundwave in your head playing really annoying songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... I think you get it. oo;  



	17. Sparklore

Subi: Mythology class for Optronix! XD Seems he knows more than the usual bot, yes?

**

* * *

17. Sparklore**

"How many of you know what the Legend of Cybertron is?" I noticed my hand wasn't the only one that went up in this class. I faintly heard Nuponic's sound of protesting dismay when he found I knew the legend. Sparklore nodded her head as she looked around at the hands in the air.

"I expected as much, seeing as the Legend of Cybertron is not only being talked about in your history classes, but also has some religious ties to it- but we aren't going to look at the religious side, we're going to look at the basic knowledge we know about Cybertron as a legend," She said, turning towards the projection screen and beginning to write the legend down. "Please copy this onto a piece of flimsi. If you don't have any today, you'll have to get some within the week before it becomes mandatory for class."

I had a piece of flimsi from an earlier class, and was already writing down the legend, one word behind what she was writing...

'_When the universe was young, there was a battle between good and evil, the benevolent god Primus and the Chaos-Bringer Unicron. Primus defeated Unicron, and he entrapped himself and Unicron in two metallic asteroids. Unicron transformed his asteroid into a massive gargantuan robot. One source says Primus transformed his asteroid into a metal world - Cybertron, and he created the Transformers, a race of sentient robots dedicated to protect the universe from Unicron. Another source says twelve million years ago, Cybertron was a factory used by the multi-faced aliens, the Quintessons, to manufacture two lines of commercially-sold robots - consumer goods and military hardware. It is never stated whether or not the Quintessons first built Cybertron, or if they terraformed an organic world, or if they colonized an existing metal planet, but their hold on the world was quickly established, as they used the mighty furnace of the Plasma Energy Chamber to forge the bodies of their robot creations and programmed them with the mega-computer, Vector Sigma._

_But, after a million years of slavery, their creations, having developed true sentience, could think and feel and knew the difference between oppression and freedom. The consumer goods robots, led by A3, spearheaded the First Cybertronian War, the rebellion against the Quintessons, prompting the aliens to create the massive "Dark Guardians" to protect their cities and crush the rebels. However, thanks to A3's coda remote device, a little 'intervention' from five, unknown Transformers that called themselves 'Aerialbots' , and Prima, the Guardians were deactivated and the Quintesson's main base, Hive City, fell, beginning the toppling line of dominos that saw the Quintessons forced off the planet and the robots attained their freedom, the two types renaming themselves the Autobots and Decepticons of Cybertron._

_After creating a peace without the Quintessons, several circles of leadership formed in each city, as well as a planetary circle, called the Council of Elders, to help lead the planet through the Golden age of Cybertron, which is now. Though it is said that there are a few circles that remain further hidden in the shadows, some helping- others hindering- the peace last. One circle is called the "Primus's Knights", and it is said there are only six mechs in this circle, somehow following the wisdom of Primus himself. Another was a circle of dragon-mechs, calling themselves part of the Drageon circle- until there was a three-way civil war between them, dividing them into the Tamashii, Lewaaryynn, and the Drageon Circles. Not long afterward, the Tamashii and the Lewaaryynn vanished, and haven't been seen since. There was also a "Gladiator's Circle", mostly made up of Decepticons, that merely fought one another to test their skills, not really helping or hindering the planetary/city circles..._'

I glanced back up as I finished writing, and was surprised to find Sparklore hadn't written the last paragraph of the legend. I frowned slightly, but kept it to myself, deciding I'd drawn enough attention to myself in previous classes. I put my pen down near the top of my paper and silently listed off my favorite legend in my head. Presently, Sparklore called for all of the papers to be passed to the front, and anyone who had to copy it to a datapad would have to turn it in the next day. I handed my sheet of flimsi to Jetfire in front of me, who gawked at my handwriting for a moment before handing it to Sparklore. Sparklore paused, noticing my extra paragraph, before looking down the row curiously and starting back to her desk with the papers. Jetfire turned to face me.

"I didn't know anyone's hand-"

"I know," I said flatly, feeling edgy because both of my previous teachers had noticed and said so, as well as Prowl, Moonracer, and Inferno. It was beginning to get somewhat agitating. Jetfire gave me a slightly wary look.

"You feeling alright?"

"Does 'irritated' and 'confused' count?"

"What's got you irritated?"

"No idea." He gave me an odd look.

"You're sure you're alright?" He repeated questioningly. I sighed.

"No."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly."

"Alright then," Jetfire said, and turned around to check the time on the clock. "... Five minutes. Great. Five minutes to freedom... Four minutes and forty-five seconds 'til the bell rings... Four minutes and thirty seconds until six hours of fun... Four minutes and ten seconds until..." His voice got too quiet to hear anymore. Nuponic and Wavestream snickered behind me.

"Optronix, can you stay after for a few minutes? I'd like to talk with you," Sparklore asked from her desk. I glanced over at her.

"Sure," I said agreeably. _This is just going to be an interesting day..._ What seemed like a moment later, the bell rang. I fought down a laugh as Jetfire practically jumped out of his chair, he'd been so busy counting he'd forgotten what he'd been counting down to. I watched him and the rest of the class file out of the classroom before going up to Sparklore's desk.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"Optronix... What legends do you know or don't know?"

"I know all of them." Sparklore nearly dropped her cube of Energon in shocked amazement before shaking her head. "_All_ of them?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Even the Legend of the _Mrrisst_?"

"It's not really a _legend_- at least not as you think it is. The _Mrrisst_ is a real battleship; I've been on it before. But yes, I know its 'legend'..."

* * *

Sparklore stared after Optronix as he bounded out of the classroom. _He knows more about the legends than I do..._ She put her face in her hands, already recalling how serious Optronix looked during class, even when he was quietly talking with his friends. _He acts like a teacher that's in in-course training..._ Sparklore took her face out of her hands and gazed at his assignment on the top of the class's assignment. _And he's got handwriting to match it._ Sparklore shook her head and pushed Optronix's semi-hidden mysteries out of her mind. He was a student, and though he may be a _smart _student, he'd be graded like the rest of the class...

* * *

Subi: oo; Short... I know. I'll try to work on making them longer... 


	18. Walking home

Subi: X-x Well, it's definitely longer...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**18. Walking Home**

I bounded past the front doors of the academy and down the walkway towards the gates, keeping an optic out for Ultra Magnus. I wasn't too concerned about having to find him; I was a lot taller than most of the transformers at the academy, so he'd probably see me first to begin with. I caught sight of him near the gates when I was halfway down the walkway, and altered my course slightly to head towards him. It only took a few bounds to reach him, and I stopped right next to Magnus, making him jump. I smiled down at him gently, "Ready to go home, Magnus?"

For a moment, he just stared up at me with a look of dismayed astonishment. "How do you keep _finding_ me like that?" He asked incredulously, before shaking his head. "I'm ready."

"Good," I said, making him look back up at me before I swung him into my arms and starting down the street. I found myself wondering how easily his childish laughter came to him, before giving into his protests and setting him down on the sidewalk next to me at the corner. As we walked on towards Sentinel's home, Magnus would keep erupting into restrained giggles, occasionally making me smile at its sheer randomness. As we walked through Iacon's city park, he looked back up at me curiously.

"Is it near the park?" He asked. I glanced down at him before answering, "A few streets past it."

"Neat!" He jumped a few steps ahead and stayed ahead of me somewhat as we walked through the park. I heard two sets of footsteps coming up behind me, and I stepped to the side to let them pass. A light green and white frame flashed past me, dodging around Magnus easily and ran down the path; however, the bot following it was far less successful. A yelp escaped them both as they both crashed to the ground.

"Magnus?" I asked, somewhat alarmed, and quickly stepped over to make sure he was alright. The other mech got to his feet, muttered an apology, and ran after the white and green blur that had now vanished. I knelt by Magnus and helped him sit up, seeing him wince as some electricity ran down the side of his right leg. I carefully examined it, noticing that he'd somehow gotten his armor cut open.

"I don't think you should walk on that..."

"I don't think I _can_ walk on that," he retorted, hissing as I picked him up. "That hurts!"

"I can fix it when we get home." He looked at me curiously.

"You can fix it?"

"Sure. Looks like the circuits just got misaligned and the armor split cleanly... should be easy." A few minutes later, we were home. I carried him upstairs to my room and put him on my recharge bed before turning and hunting through my desk drawers for a small welder. Magnus slung his legs over the edge of the bed, peering curiously at the pad of paper on the corner of my desk. I noticed him looking at it.

"You can look through it if you want," I said, kneeling so I could see what I was doing. he cautiously reached out and picked up the pad.

"Okay..." Magnus slowly leafed through them, pausing on each one to take in the details of the sketches as I repaired his leg. He stopped near the end, staring at it. "This is really good."

"Hmm?" I glanced up to see what one he was looking at. I immediately recognized which sketch he was gazing at, and went back to sealing the slash in his armor in silent embarrassment. Magnus went back to looking at the picture, slowly running his fingers over the three transformers drawn in it. In my mind, I was thinking about the strange memory I'd gotten that had caused me to sketch it in the first place...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"**_Orion?" My optic flicked on, and I pulled myself up onto one arm and turned towards the door of my room._**

"**_What is it, Cheryl?" I checked my clock quickly. "Cheryl... It's almost Gen-tai, you should be in recharge..."_**

"**_I was..."She whispered, her dark blue optics full of fear and her frame shaking slightly. I sighed faintly, "Another dream?"_**

"**_Yes..."_**

"**_C'mere..." She ran across the room and crawled onto the recharge bed next to me. "What was it about this time?"_**

"**_It was two mechs this time..."_**

"**_One was the red, blue, and white again, right?"_**

"**_Yes," She said laying her head down and turning her optics off. "Only he was with another mech that was at least twice as tall as him, and that mech's armor was red, blue, silver, and gold..."_**

"**_Mm hmm..."_**

"**_He had gold optics, Orion..." Her own blue optics activated again. "Its not the first time I've had dreams about him either... But I get the feeling I know him from somewhere; Like I've met him before."_**

"**_This is the first time you've mentioned him," I noted, gently running my fingers down her back to help comfort her._**

"_**I've had dreams about him forever, Orion. He doesn't scare me. Whenever I dream about him he's always silently there- watching... waiting... listening... But this is the first time he's ever **said** anything, and it makes me worried..."**_

"**_What did he say then?"_**

"**_He said 'Danger is coming, brother. I'm begging of you to stay behind and help here, no matter what you feel happening to me.' " Cheryl looked up at me fearfully. "I don't understand what he meant, Orion. And I've never heard him say anything before, so it must be important... But I just can't understand what else he might have been trying to say..." I gently rubbed her shoulders reassuringly._**

"**_I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later," I told her, thinking about what she'd told me. She nodded slightly and put her head down again, beginning to fall asleep again. I continued to think about her dream for a few moments._**

"**_Maybe it's not what he meant that you need to understand," I said thoughtfully._**

"**_Hmm?" She asked sleepily._**

"_**Maybe... Maybe what's so important isn't what you think he **might**have meant... maybe it's what he **actually** said is what you need to remember for sometime in the future."**_

"**_You mean... that both of them might be our brothers too?"_**

"**_Maybe. We won't know until it happens, I guess."_**

"**_Mmbeh," She mumbled sleepily, drifting into recharge. I smiled faintly at her slurred version of the word, before laying down myself and letting myself fall back into recharge as well... ..._**

"**_Shiori, Cheryl, I'm home!"_**

"**_Orion!" Their chorused voices rang out, and I suddenly found both of them hugging me._**

"**_Uhm..." I managed, looking down at both of them. Shiori laughed, "Guess we caught you, brother..."_**

"**_I guess," I agreed, laughing, and hugged them both close..._**

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **_  
_**

"They were my sisters," I said quietly. I felt Magnus jump slightly. I finished sealing his armor and pulled away, refusing to look at his face. I shook my head and turned to put the welder away. _And I remember... I remember what I can do... what I am..._

"Optronix? Are you feeling alright?" Startled by the concern in the question, I turned to face Magnus, and found his optics watching me carefully. I shook my head slightly.

"I don't know, Magnus... I just hope what I am doesn't end up destroying everything around me," I whispered. He examined what he could see of my face before putting the sketch pad on the desk, and hugging me around my neck. I blinked in surprise.

" 'No one deserves to be alone,' " He said, pulling away slightly so he could look into my optics. "Not even you. Whatever is bothering you can't bother you forever, or stop you from being you..."

"Magnus... I... Thank you," I said softly, hugging him back. "But I still need to warn you... I'm... I'm a spark-bonder..."

"Spark-bonder?"

"Yes... Its.. you know what a family bond is like, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Its a lot like that... Only I create them to anyone easily... and they get stronger the longer I am around them... And I can't control it."

"Then essentially I'd sort of become your brother?"

"Something like that, yes."

"That's fine with me," He smiled. "You'd be a great brother to have anyways."

"You... aren't worried about it then?"

"Nope, and if something happens to you then I'll deal with it with the other people you've 'bonded' with... Cause if this bond thing you have bonds to more than one person like you said it does, wouldn't it mean that bonds would also be created through who you've bonded? I won't be alone either way."

"Thanks Magnus..." ... ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subi: Complications!... Again. Muahahaha...


	19. Stubborn Songs

Subi: Sorry it took so long for me to update. oo; Optimus decided that he'd rather start singing Urnsat Major songs instead of telling me the story, so I've kind of had to get a little... um... _violent_, if you know what I mean... (coughs) Anyway, I finally got a new chapter- and on the bonus side: Its a loooong one.

* * *

**19. Stubborn Songs**

"Come on, Optronix... Pleeeease?"

"Magnus, I have _finals_ next week; I need to study for them! I don't have time to-"

"You have _way_ too much time! You spend all of it studying when you don't even _need_ to study! There's no way in the pit you're going to fail those tests! _Pleeease_, Optronix?"

"Magnus-"

"The bot's right, Optronix. You need a break," Sentinel cut in from the doorway. I groaned.

"Can't you two ever just leave me be for an _hour_?"

"No." They said together.

"By Primus! The _both_ of you will be the end of my sanity!"

"Surely not, Optronix... _Pleeease_?"

"Haha... I doubt that, Optronix..."

"Argh! I surrender! I'll take you!"

"Yes!" Magnus shouted, running from the room to get some spare credits. I buried my face in my hands and muttered, "Why me?..."

"Because he looks up to you?"

"Great..."

"Look, buy an extra ticket. If something doesn't come up, I'll go with you. If not, give it to someone else."

"That's not very reassuring, Sentinel."

"It's the best I can offer."

"Right..." I said disbelievingly as I put away the things on my desk. Sentinel frowned at me.

"For someone your age, you seem pretty negative about taking some time off. I'm surprised you haven't keeled over from working so hard..."

"..." I found I had nothing to answer that, and stared at the empty, inviting drawing pad right in front of me. Magnus bounded in right then.

"Optronix... we're not going to get the tickets if we don't go _now_..."

"_I'm coming!_" I yelled, and chased him down the stairs and out the front door...

* * *

"..."

"Optronix?"

"..."

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"No."

"Then what _are_ you mad at?"

"I don't know."

"..."

"What did you expect coming from me?"

"Am I supposed to answer that honestly?"

"No."

"Then I won't."

"..." I found myself glaring at a rock on the other side of the street, feeling somewhat hostile. Magnus kept looking up at me uneasily, clearly uncertain at my focus at anywhere except the rock.

"Optronix?"

"What?"

"You're scaring me."

"And?" Magnus sighed before an idea popped into his head. "Sing something."

"... Wait, what?" I blinked as what he said sank in. "_Sing_ something?"

"Yeah. Anything. Just do me a favor..."

"What?"

"Stop. Staring. At. The. Rock. It doesn't care, really." I had to chuckle slightly at that, and turned my gaze back to the ticket booth as I tried to pick out a song I knew to sing for Magnus. In the meantime, he examined the list of concerts that were still open later in the evening.

"Here's a half full concert, Optronix. It says its off-planet music though..."

"Off-planet music can be good."

"I haven't heard any before... Care to try it?"

"You're the one who dragged me out here, do I get a choice in this now?"

"That depends on what your choice is."

"Right..." I leaned forward slightly to talk to the Autobot waiting for us to say what concert we wanted to go to. "What are some of the songs Sho-ju-aii's playing?" The receptionist stared at me.

"I'm surprised you can pronounce the band's name right..." She shook her head before handing me a piece of flimsi. "I can't say the name of these songs unless you could reteach me to say them right." I nodded as Magnus took the opportunity to cross the empty street to the park to play while he waited.

I glanced down the list, hunting for any familiar songs. My optics immediately recognized some from Urnsat Major. I found myself humming one in particular as I looked down the rest of the list. I handed it back to the receptionist, smiling faintly.

"Three."... ... ...

* * *

Magnus walked through the park happily, looking around at everything. It didn't take him long to notice the light green and white femme sitting by herself on a nearby park bench. He bounded over to see if he could cheer her up any.

"Are you feeling alright?" Magnus asked. The femme lifted her face, revealing dim, light-blue optics.

"Were you talking to me?"

"Yes. Are you feeling okay?" Magnus tilted his head slightly at her. "Why are you all alone out here?"

"I... I'm trying to get away from my adopted brother. He's... He's not nice to be around."

"Oh... Well I have a nice brother. His name is Optronix. My name is Ultra Magnus, but everyone calls me 'Magnus'. What's your name?"

"Elita One."

"Can I call you 'Elita'?"

"I guess."

"... You're a lot like Optronix. Quiet and seemingly uncertain."

"I am 'quiet' and 'uncertain'."

"Yep. Memory problems?"

"I... Yes... How did you know?"

"Optronix," Magnus said simply, shrugging patiently. "Sentinel says he gets memory attacks sometimes, but Optronix hides them really good. Half the time, even I don't know what he's feeling."

"You can't tell by the way he moves or his face?"

"Not usually. I think he's shielding himself somehow... To keep us from sharing his emotions... Anyway. What are you going to do later?"

"Avoid my brother for as long as possible," Elita replied, managing a small smile as Magnus laughed. They both froze slightly as they heard a quiet, sad voice singing softly.

"Emte yu su, yalk jo venn: Ion xi wahanu, ion xin telari. Emte jahauni, xetch rask solarri, Wahanu vida jo mey harpil; Jo mey elder zrii talutah yu shii Auray or solarri xi ryynn, Kei vida lorso ya myu kai..." Magnus turned slightly, looking for the source of the soft, sorrow-filled voice that was singing mournfully. "Do you hear that Elita?"

"Yes..."

"Who's singing?" Magnus asked himself wonderingly, before catching sight of Optronix walking towards them slowly. Magnus immediately recognized the thin, pipe-like instrument in the taller mech's hands from earlier in the school year.

Optronix had taken the engineering class the last semester, and at one point Shivari, the teacher, had required all of the students to create a musical instrument. Optronix had created the pipe-like instrument in his hands, and had called it a 'hummum jo Pall'; leaving Magnus, Shivari, and everyone else in the class completely baffled. Optronix had laughed slightly, before bringing the instrument to his lips and started playing it softly, and they'd all been mesmerized by the low, mournful tones that hummed through their frames from the instrument. He'd stopped playing it shortly afterwards, and did a semi-rare thing for him to do: He ran out of the classroom and didn't return to any class until halfway through third period. Magnus hadn't had the heart to ask him where he'd gone.

Magnus leapt to his feet and ran over to Optronix, "Did you get the tickets?" Optronix jerked slightly, looking down at Magnus sharply as if he'd just been hit.

"What?" Optronix asked. Magnus hesitated, realizing he'd just jumped feet-first into Optronix's thoughts. "Uh... Did you get the tickets?... Sorry Optronix..." The taller mech shrugged, "Sentinel just commed me, he can't make it."

"Slag... Can't he ever make time for us? An hour would be nice..."

"He's busy. Who were you talking to?"

"Huh? Oh... Her name's Elita One, she's trying to avoid her brother... apparently he isn't nice to her... Hey, Optronix? Can we give her the extra ticket?"

"I don't see why not..." ... ...

* * *

"Wow! I didn't know off-planet music could be so cool!" Magnus happily bounced along between me and Elita, having had a great time at the concert.

"I told you you'd probably like it," I said, smiling slightly.

"Did you have a great time, Elita?" Magnus asked her excitedly. Elita One laughed, "Yes. Thank you both for insisting that I come..."

"Don't worry about it," I told her.

"Optronix?" I sighed. "What, Magnus?"

"Were you the one singing in the park this afternoon?" I froze.

"... _Singing_..."

"Yes. You were singing with one of the slower songs at the concert too."

"..."

"Optronix?"

"What?"

"You're scaring me again."

"And?"

"Sing something!"

"I don't want to." Magnus sighed, and turned to Elita somewhat. "See? Quiet and stubborn." She laughed.

"We'll sing with you if you want, Optronix," She suggested, sitting on one of the park benchs. I shook my head.

"Pleeeease, Optronix?"

"Not the whining again..."

"I am NOT whining!" Magnus barked, standing in front of me and putting his fists on his hips.

"Demanding then."

"I can agree with that. Sing something. Please?"

"How about we compromise and I'll play something?"

"Your hommem... hummom... whatever?" Magnus asked, struggling with the word. I laughed.

"Hummum jo Pall, yes."

"That's from Urnsat Major, right?" Elita asked, looking over at me. I glanced at her in surprise. "Yes. 'Hummum' means flute."

" 'Jo Pall'?"

"For those who are lost," I whispered quietly, pulling the pipe-flute out of my subspace pocket. Both Elita and Magnus fell silent, clearly stunned. I hesitated slightly, then brought the flute to my lips...

Soft, low tones immediately sprang out, trembling with their own weight. A gentle, sad note flitted through their hum, joined with others that swirled in. Its quiet, mourning sound tore at our sparks. I was scarcely aware that my fingers were moving, and a several minutes later, I became aware of the fact that Elita was crying. I stopped playing, pulling the flute away from my mouth.

"Elita?" I asked softly. She shook her head, and tried to hide her tears. Magnus reached up slightly and put a hand on her arm.

"Elita, it's okay to cry..."

"No... I can't... I just... can't..." She struggled to say, but she was shaking so hard she couldn't stop. I gently reached over and put my arms around her shoulders comfortingly. After awhile, she stopped crying and pulled away.

"We should get going," I said quietly. Elita nodded, somewhat embarrassed.

"I should too. Thank you for the wonderful evening, both of you." She turned and started to walk away. I glanced down and found Magnus had all but nearly fallen into recharge leaning against my legs. I chuckled softly, and carefully picking him up, carried him back home...

* * *

Subi: oo; I warned you guys that it was long... Don't blame me if your fingers got cramped for holding down the mouse to keep scrolling down the page... And please do me a favor and review. I'm running out of ideas for this part of the story (not to mention ways to keep Optimus in my head and telling it to me), so hints and/or ideas would be nice. 


	20. Everything

Subi: Poor Optronix, another memory attack for him... Isn't he just loved?... Wait... Don't answer that.

* * *

**20. Everything**

"We're home, Sentinel," I called softly as I walked through the door with Magnus in my arms. Not even ten seconds later, Sentinel was in the hallway to see if we were alright.

"You were gone for so long, I was beginning to wonder if you'd been kidnapped or something!"

"Your worry is noted. We're fine, Magnus fell asleep on the way home."

"Did you have a good time then?"

"It was entertaining."

" 'Entertaining'? That's all it was?"

"Sentinel..." I sighed. "We're exhausted. You're blocking the hallway. Move."

Something flickered in his optics, and he stepped to the side quickly so I could get past. For a moment, I thought I saw a sense of uncertainty and bewilderment, but I pushed the idea away, telling myself I was probably imagining things because I was tired. I carried Magnus up the stairs to his room and laid him down on the recharge bed. I paused slightly, seeing the peaceful look on Magnus's face. A stab of saddened jealousy ran through me, and I silently left the room.

_Lucky..._ I mentally growled. _Able to fall asleep so quickly and without any horrors waiting for him in recharge..._ Feeling in a semi-blaming mood, I kept going, knowing I was really just ranting to myself. _Having someone to watch over him and make sure he's alright... Never witnessed a City's death; Never lost a lover... All of his friends... Everything..._

Everything.

I stood by the desk in my room as that thought swirled in my mind, stunned.

Everything.

That was what I remembered about Atlantis now.

Everything.

Ariel's face, welcoming and kind... David's big smile, the wave of his hand... Jo's cautious, examining look as he worked... Drawback's 'business first' attitude as she looked over the sign-in papers... And _him_... I remembered him clearly now... His mostly silver frame was a little taller than I was, with a large, pipe-like design attached to his right shoulder... But I remembered his optics the most... those unforgiving optics as he glared down at me... His crimson red optics... even as he shot me with his attached gun... And I remembered collapsing to the ground... struggling to grip Ariel's hand... even as I lay dying...

Everything.

The pain... The hope... The darkness... The light... The emptiness... _Alone_...

Everything.

Death. I remembered Death... The Ryynn, and it's powerful form in the shape of a dragon... darker than the night, almost like glass... It touched my back once, then turned to something nearby... '**_Shii..._**' Ryynn called... Life. It was calling Life... Suddenly there was a white dragon before me... Life... It was saying something... I remembered trying to focus on it's words...

**_..."We are the Tamashii; We hold life. The creator lives within; He's asked us to come. Rise, Orion. Live your name. Primus had your middle name mean 'returning one' for a reason. You may be a Howahku, but your first name says more... Optimus, you have much to learn. Death is not a lesson for today. Rise again, learn to lead; Lead the living lost home. Lead the unseeing by lending your sight. Lend the resistance your strength, may time hold you well, and understand that life is a gift for all to have, and death to the one who takes it away is the only way to end the darkening circle..." The White Dragon said, then placed it's claws on the wound in my chest. "Shii za yo bella; obell zu linumo, Optimus... Not everything is gone as long as you live..." _**

**_Ryynn was back, holding something in it's claws. "A piece of yourself to remember your family by," The Black Dragon said, and dropped what it was holding into my hands. I froze, recognizing the silver chain work and the locket on it. "Hide it well, Optimus. We shall remember your spark for times to come."_**

"**_And if you, like I, forget?"_**

"**_The Ryynn does not forget refusing death. You will have no fear of us for a long time to come. There will be times were we will feel close, but it will be your choice to fall when it is time. Primus has made us promise this on our honor, and honor we refuse to taint. Do what you have sworn to yourself and Primus that you would do. No innocent blood will be spilled near you again..." ... ..._**

And I cried myself into recharge, not seeing a faint silver light appear in my hands and turn into the locket from my memory... ... ...

* * *

Subi: And I'd like to send off this note: THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME BORROW YOUR CHARACTERS, INA!... You are loved. The Tamashii (Shii, aka "The White Dragon of Life") and the Lewaaryynn (Ryynn, aka "The Black Dragon of Death") belong to Inabikari Tamashii; not me. 


	21. One of Those Days

Subi: Muahaha! My root beer source is back! n-n Root beer...

Optimus: Someone save us.

Hot Shot: I thought _you_ were the hero, Optimus.

Optimus: Great. Care to take on my job for a few weeks? (Subi cackles evilly and without warning)

Hot Shot: (pauses) ... No thanks, I'll pass... oo;

* * *

**21. One of Those Days**

Sentinel was a very busy Autobot. And though he didn't really want to admit it, he'd gotten used to seeing Optronix up and just finishing making breakfast for the three of them in the morning as he went down the stairs. He was used to hearing Optronix call up the stairs to Magnus to get out of bed _now_, or by the Allspark, Optronix was going to go up there and find some way to humorously 'torture' him. He was used to trying to sneak out of the house without eating, and getting called back by a stubborn Optronix or an insistent Magnus to eat breakfast with them. He was used to standing in the front doorway, realize he was missing something, and turning to find Optronix there with what he'd almost forgotten...

Sentinel stood in the middle of the entryway, wondering what felt so _off_ this morning. He frowned, trying to figure out what was wrong... _Optronix,_ he realized. That was what was wrong. The red, blue, and silver mech wasn't in the kitchen; Wasn't standing in front of him with his arms crossed and demanding to know where Sentinel was going; Wasn't right behind him with any forgotten file, book, data pad, or anything else... Optronix was, simply put, not there.

"Optronix?" Sentinel called softly, turning toward the second floor balcony, expecting to see him there. But no, the mech wasn't there either. Sentinel's frown deepened; He knew Optronix hated sleeping in, weekend or not, and the red, blue, and silver bot would never pass up on the opportunity to tell him off for not spending _some_ time with them. Sentinel hesitated for a moment, then started up the stairs. If the mech wasn't upstairs in his room, Sentinel wasn't sure he knew where Optronix would be. He opened Optronix's door, stepped inside...

And stopped short.

"Oh my... Primus!" Sentinel breathed, staring as he hesitantly stepped over to Optronix's side. Granted, he found it a little odd that Optronix had only taken the upper half of his armor off, but what shocked him the most was the black, deep cut that ran from Optronix's right shoulder to the left side of his waist. Sentinel may not have gotten the best grade in circuitology or mechanics, but he knew that Optronix's wound could very well be fatal...

"Optronix?" Sentinel asked in alarm, and cautiously put his hand on the mech's other shoulder and gently pressed on it to wake him.

"Kimaa yu zrii ajunta," Optronix muttered, his optics flickering on. "What Sentinel? Am I not allowed to mourn my old death in peace?"

"Optronix, I'm far more concerned about-"

"My back is unrepairable."

"... Pardon?"

"It is a wound of the soul, Sentinel. Any medic will bring his tools to see what would be needed to fix it and the instruments will say it is not there."

"I... Didn't know spark wounds were visible..."

"They usually aren't."

"Why is yours, then?"

"I don't know, Sentinel. Perhaps it is Ryynn's reminder to me of what I promised."

" 'Ryynn'?"

"The Dragon of Death." Sentinel flinched, "You've _seen _the Dragon of Death?"

"Once. There are many songs on Urnsat Major that speak of him and Shii."

"Shii is life, right?"

"You catch on fast," He noted dryly, pulling himself back onto his heels on the recharge bed and facing Sentinel.

"I have to, it's my job."

"I suppose you want breakfast then?"

"I'll be fine. I guess I've just gotten so used to you calling me back for it that I ended up calling myself when you weren't down there." Optronix laughed weakly, then jumping to his feet, chased Sentinel out of his room.

"I'll be right down..." ... ...

* * *

_No peace!_ I fumed silently to myself as I gripped the handle on the cooking pan. _No time alone, no remembering, no second breath, no **anything**!_

"Optronix?"

"**_What_**?" I snapped, and my optics flashed, and everything took on a gold tint. Magnus recoiled, even though he was on the other side of the counter.

"I was just wondering what you were going to do today..."

"Someone got up on the wrong side of bed, apparently..." Sentinel noted quietly to himself. I shot him a glare, then turned back to the stove. "If I can get a hold of Prowl, Nuponic, Wavestream, and Jetfire, we were going to go over a few last minute notes before the exams start tomorrow."

"You're studying _again_? Optronix, you work too much!" Magnus groaned. "So much for getting you to take a weekend off."

"Just set the table," I growled. Magnus ran around the counter to get some empty cubes down.

"Are you feeling alright, Optronix?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Sentinel."

"Right. I'm going to go get my files together, let me know when it's ready," Sentinel turned and walked out into the hallway. Magnus put the cubes on the table, then ran into the hallway.

"Sentinel, you said you were getting your files, not that you were leaving!"

"Why do I even bother?"

"I dunno... you're asking me?" Magnus sent back. I ignored their argument in the hallway as I filled the cubes, focusing on not spilling the heated, flavored Energon everywhere. Sentinel and Magnus came back into the kitchen, still arguing, just as I put the pan in the sink under cold running water.

"One of these days I'm going to get both of you to take an entire day off," Magnus sighed.

"And compromise the safety of the city while you're at it?" Sentinel didn't look happy.

"Well, no, but... Oh forget it. I'll find a way."

"Sometimes we need a break from everyone," I said flatly as I came around the counter and picked up one of the cubes.

"But then you'll be all alone and you wont come back and-"

"_Sometimes we need time to ourselves, _Magnus."

"Oh Optronix... Don't start this again..."

"**_If you don't want to get into this, then you shouldn't chase after us every scathing minute of our lives!_**"

"I'm not chasing after you! Primus! You're as paranoid as Red Alert getting an answer wrong in Circuitology!"

"I AM NOT PARANOID!"

"ARE TOO!"

"**_YOU WANT PARANOID; THEN YOU GO WATCH A CITY FALL AS YOU HELPLESSLY LAY ON THE GROUND DYING, MAGNUS!_**" I roared, and I flung my Energon cube to the ground, where it shattered as I vanished into the hallway and up the stairs to my room. Some part of me wished that the doors could slam shut behind me so I could express how I felt right then. Instead, I found myself seizing my drawing pad and a handful of my drawing tools, stashing them in my subspace pocket with my flute before turning, storming back downstairs, and out the front door.

"Optronix!" I heard one of them call after me, but I ignored him, transforming and taking off, leaving my trailer behind to let them know I'd be coming back sooner or later after I'd calmed myself... ... ...

* * *

Subi: Yes, I'm in a 'evil' mood. Deal with it. At least you got your chapter update thingy back... Cause of root beer returnage. n-n

Optimus: We're done for.

Hot Shot: Hey, your name is _Optimus_, you're supposed to be _optimistic_!

Optimus: (growls slightly) Not you too.

Hot Shot: Huh? oo?


	22. Wanderings

Subi: x-x; Major delay by schoolish stuff and writers block... and root beer withdrawals. oo;

* * *

**22. Wandering**

I found myself leaning against the wall outside of Iacon's Council chambers, staring listlessly at the statue that stood on the platform in the middle of the low gardens in front of me. Something in me insisted I knew who the statue was, and that something about the statue was wrong at the same time. I gazed almost unseeingly at the cloaked statue, noting the sharp edge of the mask on it's face, trying to remember where I'd seen him before. _Him?_ My optics blinked, and I found myself looking over the statue, trying to figure out how I knew the transformer was a mech and not a femme. After a few minutes, I decided that the width of the shoulders might have given it away, if not the sheer proportion of the statue's height.

I looked back towards the statue's hooded face, both seeing and unseeingly. Somehow I understood that the statue would know exactly what was going on around him if it were alive; feeling safe under his watchful 'gaze'. I don't know why I felt protected in this particular statue's presence when there were six or seven other statues that were just as impressive around the city- I just knew that I'd met him before somewhere, and he'd made a promise somewhere to help protect me from something...

**_"...THEN YOU GO WATCH A CITY FALL AS YOU HELPLESSLY LAY ON THE GROUND DYING, MAGNUS!" An Energon cube shattered against the ground... A drawing pad and a handful of drawing tools vanished into my subspace pocket... and my flute was in my hands as I flashed through the door, with little intention of stopping..._** The memory of this morning screamed inside of me... _Where was that 'protecting' mech when Atlantis fell? What sort of protector would abandon--_

No. Keep off that line of thought. Only another mindless rage would come of it.

_What is so important about remembering Atlantis?_ the voice whispered in my mind. I withdrew my gaze from the statue, turning my head to face the direction of the sunrise, though the star had already risen a great deal into the sky. What _was_ so important about it that I had to forget?

I pulled away from the wall I was leaning against, and started down the pathway that led out of the gardens. I didn't see the tall, white, red, black, and blue transformer exit the Council building behind me; nor did I notice his gold optics flash as he caught sight of me, or stop to watch me as I left the garden...

* * *

I was walking without direction, my flute in my hands, wondering vaguely at what I saw. Though I had no purpose in whatever direction I took, not one detail escaped my notice; And I quickly decided that Iacon was in a much worse state of society than what Atlantis had been. Somewhat disgusted by one sight, I turned away, trying to ignore the screams of the femme as another mech _forced_ her. Part of my spark twisted in anger, another filled with a depressing sadness, and I forced myself to walk on, scarcely aware of the darkening sky...

Another femme approached me, "I haven't seen you around here before. New to the area?" She asked, her orange optics flickering unreadably. I easily stepped around her with a "No." And wondered at my own answer.

"What are you looking for out here then?" She practically purred, running next to me and keeping up with my slow, almost deliberate, pace. I took two slanted steps away from her, returning the amount of space between myself and her to what it should have been, stopped, and turned to face the femme with a suspicious glare. "_It is none of your concern,_" I rumbled deeply, my own blue optics flashing a golden tint once again.

She fled.

I continued on my way, unhindered and undisturbed as I left the rundown area and past what appeared to be a junkyard. Eventually, I grew tired of half-heartedly sorting through the scrapmetal for who-knew-what, and I left that area as well. Once again, I had no true direction in my path, and I found myself walking on the better-paved walkways of Iacon...

* * *

"Do you really think that's him? I mean, we don't even know where he _lives_, much less if it's anywhere near here or not, Prowl," Red Alert asked. "Besides, we've never met anyone in his family... unless you include his 'adopted' brother, Magnus- who clearly isn't anywhere to be seen." 

"I'm positive that it's him. I can tell by the way he walks, Red. Optronix is the only person I've seen in Iacon who walks like that."

"Alright... But if he ends up kicking our afts, don't blame _me_..." Jetfire muttered. The three of them wait a moment before crossing the street and following the red, blue, and silver mech as he walked down the street, seemingly oblivious to what was around him. Jetfire hung back further, being the tallest of the three, noticing that Optronix would pause every now and then, looking at something he alone seemed to see. Curious about what Optronix found so interesting about a random wall, he stopped by it and gazed at it thoughtfully. '_Nothing but my reflection..._' Jetfire thought, and then it hit him.

"Guys, com'ere."

"Jetfire, what is so interesting about a _wall_, of all things-"

"That's the exact point. He knows," Jetfire interrupted Prowl. Red Alert sighed, "Knows what?"

"He knows we're following him. The wall reflects enough light from a bot's optics to be able to see what's behind them."

"... You're right," Prowl said after trying it himself. "I can see you guys in the reflection like its daytime out here."

"Clever," Red Alert noted before turning back to where Optronix had been- to find the street completely empty. "Uh.. guys? I think he lost us..."

"Slag..."

"Remind me why we were following him to begin with."

"Uh..."

"To ask why he skipped out on the study group, for one. Secondly, to make sure he didn't do something to kill himself while we aren't looking."

"Oh..."... ...

* * *

Subi: I'll try to update sometime soon... no telling when though. x-x; Sorry... 


	23. Search

Subi: School can be hell. It's even more so when Optimus ditched me for three weeks; So sorry it's taken so long to post... And yes, I realize it's broken up somwhat. x-x; I had to jump around slightly to get the right feeling of events...

* * *

**23. Search**

"Where in the universe could he have gotten to?" Prowl muttered as he, Jetfire, and Red Alert walked further down the street.

"Do either of you have his commlink number?"

"Would we be looking for him if we did?"

"Oh save the sarcasm."

"You're the one who asked," Jetfire retorted, taking a glance down a side street. "He's good at hidin', you have to give him that much."

"He spends all of his time hiding," Prowl sighed. "Think we'd get any further if we split up to look for him?"

"I don't think he plays hide-and-seek by the rules, Prowl."

"No, _really_? I thought he was playing 'catch-me-if-you-dare'."

"That's possible." Jetfire and Prowl stared at Red Alert, who shifted uneasily under their gaze. "What?"

Jetfire stared at the smaller Autobot for a moment more before turning back towards a side street. "Let's try splitting up. We can cover more distance that way."

The other two nodded and they started off in three different directions: Jetfire down a side street to the right; Prowl taking a street that headed back towards the inner city of Iacon; and Red Alert going straight... ... ...

* * *

"Sentinel?"

"Hmm?" Sentinel looked up from his desk to the doorway where Magnus was standing.

"Optronix has been gone for so long… Do you think he's okay? I mean, I know he needs some time to himself and everything, but something feels... _off_…"

"What do you mean, Magnus?"

"Like… Oh I don't know… It just doesn't feel right. Like something's… wrong… Like something's trying to eat me up inside, fill me with darkness... _drown_ me with guilt and sorrow… But I know it isn't me who's really feeling it…"

"You think something is wrong with Optronix?" Sentinel asked, slowly standing up, not taking his gaze away from the younger transformer. Magnus nodded, his blue optics filled with worry.

"Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

"No, but I _think _he's in the east side of the city…"

"How do you know that?"

"It's… It's hard to explain. I don't know if I understand it myself, but I believe that he's around there somewhere."

"Then let's go find him and make sure he's alright," Sentinel decided, and stashing his gun in his pocket, followed Magnus out the door.

"Hey, his trailer is missing!"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Sentinel muttered… … _  
_

* * *

_Optronix. Just thinking about that stubborn mech drove him up the wall! Optronix seemed to be- quite literally- the tall, dark, and mysterious transformer that almost every femme in the school was after. And yet, the damned bot refused every single one that came up with the courage to ask him out to any random event!_ Red Alert scowled. _With every femme trying to get Optronix's attention, why would the red-silver-blue mech go to the most rundown part of the city to begin with?_

The sound of several, light metal objects hitting the ground made Red Alert stop, tensing as he looked around for the source of the noise. Determining that the sound came from a darkened street, he headed over, wondering if he'd just found Optronix or not. Reaching the opening, he hesitantly stepped into the darker street.

"Optronix?" He called nervously. Behind him, he didn't see the dark, looming figure of a winged mech, nor the flash of gold optics before it became an unregistered shadow again. Red Alert blinked at the dark alleyway before shrugging, turning, and stepping back out into the main street.

"Now where could he have gotten to? How can he hide hims-mmph!" Red Alert flailed as a large, black, silver, and blue hand ubruptly clamped around his mouth from behind and a blue and silver arm hooked around his neck, pulling him back into the dark opening. Red Alert sank his teeth into the mech's hand, and was rewarded with a sharp "Hey!" that sounded rather familiar...

"HELP!" Red Alert shouted at the top of his voice, before realizing something tasted funny. _Wait a minute... that tastes like the volciston in medical class_, he thought numbly before everything went dark... ... ...

* * *

Prowl turned at a distant cry for help behind him. The white and black mech frowned.

"Red Alert was in that direction..." Prowl trailed off as he saw a large, white, black, red, and gold seeker flashing between the buildings above on another street, heading towards the cry. Prowl broke into a run, following it. _No mistaking it now; that's Jetfire and he heard it too..._

A few moments later, Prowl and Jetfire were standing in the street Red Alert had been searching, looking for any clues to what might have happened to their friend. Jetfire was crawling around the edge of one side of the street, hoping to find some sign of a scuffle. The large seeker ubrubtly sat back on his heels and sighed.

"We're never gonna find him at this rate, Prowl."

"We have to keep looking! Whoever got Red Alert couldn't have gone far!" Prowl insisted, searching on the other side of the street.

"Yeah? And what if Red Alert didn't have the chance to defend himself- which it looks like is the case? This 'attacker' must know his way around here, and we don't. We need some sort of help to look for both of them."

"And what if this attacker has Optronix _and_ Red Alert? Who knows how long Optronix has been stuck with him, much less what the pit the guy has done with him? You can go ahead and go get help, but I'm going to keep looking."

"Prowl-"

"Go on. There's a reason I'm part of the police force for a half-time job. Besides, you can get to wherever faster than I can."

"Prowl... Be careful," Jetfire said, finally giving in. The big seeker looked at the other mech for a moment before transforming and heading off towards the police station for help...

Magnus saw him coming first. "Jetfire! Down here!" the blue, red, and white Autobot called, transforming and waving to the white and black seeker. Sentinel stopped and transformed as well, looking up at the jet-like shuttle as it banked slightly to come down. Jetfire transformed a bit further away and landed, before walking over to them.

"You wouldn't happen to know if you can reach the 'missing people' line from here, would you?"

"Missing people?" Sentinel asked, suddenly worried that they were too late to get to Optronix.

"Yeah. Red Alert's gone missin' and we can't find Optronix... we saw him earlier and we tried to catch up to talk to him, but he lost us when we paused to figure out why he was looking at random walls, where we realized he knew we were following him, and... Yeah," Jetfire finished vaguely with a somewhat fustrated wave of his hand. "Prowl stayed behind to look for signs of a struggle with Red... But we haven't the faintest clue where Optronix is."

"The system isn't even online this weekend, the city security is upgrading it."

"Frag," Jetfire snarled, kicking at a small rock on the ground. "Of all the slagging times to--"

"Optronix is nearby, Jetfire," Magnus cut in. "He's in the east side of the city."

"Kid, this _is_ the east side of the city. He could be _anywhere_ out here."

"I can give you a direction, you know! There's a reason he keeps calling me 'brother'!" Magnus shouted, looking furious. Sentinel put a hand on the younger bot's shoulder, "We'll find him, Magnus. Which way?"

"That way," the Autobot muttered, pointing back in the direction Jetfire'd come from. "About ten blocks, then to the right somewhere."

"He's that close?" Prowl asked as he drove up.

"He moves fast, even if he is heavily built and tall," Magnus answered. Prowl transformed and held out a piece of metal with a thickening green liquid on it. "I think it's Red's."

"Great," Jetfire muttered, transforming and flying down the street. "Guess you're leading the way, Magnus." The other three transformed and raced after him, hoping they could get to the stubborn Autobot before whatever had gotten Red Alert got Optronix... ... ...

* * *

Subi: Hey, I've gotten somewhere... (grins happily) Suppose I get reviews with this for it?... 


	24. Blood of a Prime?

Subi: Thanks to T.L.Arens for some of the ideas I'd like to throw in here. 'Non-Linear-Existence' all the way!... Yes, I'm in an odd mood right now...

* * *

**24. Blood of a Prime?**

Red Alert activated his optic line to find himself in a semi-dark room. Turning his head to the side, he saw Optronix sitting at the far end of the room. The red, blue, and silver mech had his head down, sitting on the floor with his right arm hanging over his knee, leaning against the wall. Red Alert could see the faint glow of the mech's optics under the edge of Optronix's helm, though it seemed different than normal. _As a matter of fact_, Red noted, _entire pieces of his frame seem to be different_... Red Alert silently eyed him uncertainly, wondering if the other bot knew he was online.

"You'd think I'd be used to memory attacks by now," Optronix said quietly, making Red Alert jump slightly in surprise.

"Optronix..?"

"Try picturing yourself as 18, and losing all of your memories, Red... The only thing you remember is your name and how old you are."

"...Okay...?"

"Now, imagine one day, one of your new friends in a completely different city that you've 'moved to' says something- any random, normal thing- and you suddenly remember a piece, just a piece, of a memory... And the sheer emotions, feelings, thoughts- the vision _itself_- feels like it's ripping what you've become into fragments and leaves everything for you to piece back together. Can you imagine how you'd feel?"

"... Confused," Red Alert admitted, wondering where this conversation had even come from to begin with.

"Not frustrated?"

"That... might depend on how frequently it happens..."

_FREQUENCY IS EXPONENTIAL UNTIL COMPLETE FILE RETREIVAL._ Red Alert blinked; Had Optronix just said that to him... _mentally_?

"About twice per seventy-two cycles, now," Optronix whispered.

"Then yes, I'd be frustrated," Red answered, examining him from the other side of the room, silently cursing the after-effects of the volciston. "You wouldn't happen to have something to counteract volciston, would you?"

"Not my fault you _bit _me."

"What?" Red Alert blinked. Optronix raised his hand so Red Alert could see the clear puncture marks of a transformer's teeth.

"What's it _look_ like, Red?" He growled, semi-irritated. The white, blue, and red Autobot stared, a different discovery catching his attention...

"Optronix, are you blood-related to a Prime?" The taller mech stiffened.

"'Blood-related'? Not that I'm aware of..."

"Then you _are_ a Prime?"

"Excuse me?"

"Are you a Prime?"

"When I just told you I have no memory of myself?"

"It's a simple yes or no question--AH!" Red Alert flinched, ducking his head to avoid the chunk of metal that Optronix threw at him. He remained with his head down until Optronix's heavy footsteps had faded before sitting up and looking towards the wall; And felt his systems freeze in fear when he saw that Optronix hadn't chucked a piece of metal at him...

With a wild glance around, Red Alert found that the only thing that might help him escape the single Energon bond that held his left arm chained to the wall was a broken pole about a foot out of his reach...

And all the while, the red optics of a spydor droid glowed in the dark as its sharp fangs inched closer and closer down the wall towards the straining white, red, and blue Autobot as Red Alert tried to grasp the pole... ... ...

* * *

"He's near here," Magnus said as he transformed. Sentinel, Prowl, and Jetfire transformed behind him. Jetfire landed and glanced around disbelievingly, "In this part of the city?"

Prowl cautiously prodded at a pile of scrap metal on the side of the street, "Kind of matches his personality right now, if you ask me. Dark and creepy…"

"Ah!" the muffled cry made them jump in alarm. Sentinel quickly determined the direction the cry had come from, even as there was a distant sound of metal hitting against metal, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps drawing nearer with each passing moment. Magnus carefully reached out and placed a hand on Sentinel's tensed frame, and almost instantly, the footsteps stopped dead in their tracks. The Prime didn't dare to look at the younger mechs behind him as he stared down a side street with a focus that would have unnerved an entire army of Decepticons.

_You're right there, I know you are… If you've harmed either of them in any way, you'll learn a new definition to the word 'justice'… Come on, step out here, I dare you…_ Sentinel thought fiercely.

_JUSTICE INEFFICIENT._

Sentinel froze, shocked.

_INNOCENT WILL REMAIN UNHARMED_... The footsteps resumed at a slower pace, still coming closer; and a tall, red, blue, silver, and gold frame moved into view.

"…As long as I still function," a doubled, semi-deep, familiar voice finished, his gold optics glowing as he stopped before them. The mech spread his arms widely out to the side, "Can I help you?" He asked, sounding like he had a highly amused smile on his face under his silver facemask.

He'd treasure the look on their faces for a long time afterward.

"Am… Am I seeing things?" Prowl stuttered, his optics wide as he tried not to stare at the powerful frame of the mech before them. Jetfire, on the other hand, had noticed the mech's impressive wingspan, "You're a seeker?"

"I'm a bit more than a seeker," the mech chuckled slightly, "I'm a quad-changer."

"Who are you?" Sentinel asked, finally finding his voice again. "I'm Sentinel; this is Ultra Magnus, Prowl, and Jetfire."

"I have many names," the mech answered, "But for now, lets settle with 'Oppie', shall we?"… … …

* * *

Red Alert found himself wondering what was going on. Nothing seemed to be going the way it seemed it would. First, it started with looking for Optronix; Red Alert had gotten 'kidnapped' by the mech, and eventually it ended up that Optronix had found _him_ instead. Then there was the fact that the spydor droid had _freed_ him instead of attempting to eat, poison, or harm him. (_Had Optronix done that on purpose?_) As of the moment, the spydor droid was sitting on his shoulder as Red searched for a way out of the locked room he was in.

"I think I'm more lost than I was before," Red told the spydor mildly, even if it was only to keep himself from feeling completely alone and forgotten.

"Vvvvvv," the spydor hummed, and Red Alert continued searching along the walls for a doorpanel switch... ... ...

* * *

"There," Oppie said, pointing at a door further down the hallway. Sentinel checked his scanners and found that there was indeed an Autobot in the room.

"Someone's definitely in there," He agreed, cautiously going over to the door. Jetfire followed him and tapped on the door, "Anybody home in there?"

"Jetfire!" Came Red Alert's overjoyed voice, "I can't find the door _or_ the doorpanel from in here... Say what side of the room are you on anyway?... Wait... Don't bother answering that, my systems are so out of alignment I wouldn't be able to tell to begin with..."

"Hey Red? Is Optronix in there with you?" Magnus called, standing out of Jetfire's and Sentinel's way as they tried to figure out how to open the door.

"No, but he was earlier... I think I ticked him off with yet another one of my smart-mouthed questions."

"Smooth, Red. Real smooth."

"It's not my fault he snuck up behind me and I bit his hand..."

"You _bit_ him..." Sentinel stopped tugging at the doorframe and scowled at the wall in front of him, feeling his optic ridge twitch slightly. "No wonder he was ticked off at you."

"I'm not exactly thrilled about the concept either, you know. Though I'm still a little surprised that-- no, that's his choice to tell you guys... Not my issue..." Red muttered.

"Now what're you rambling about?" Prowl asked as Sentinel resumed pulling on the door with Jetfire.

"Just the odd taste of Optronix's blood, what else? Who would have thought it would have the properties of volciston? I wonder if he'll let me have a sample to study..."

"Probably not," Magnus put in. A moment later, Sentinel and Jetfire had the door 'open', and Red Alert stepped out into the hallway.

"Thanks, you guys."

"Hey, we're your friends, don't worry about it."

"What Prowl said."

"You're welcome."

"So how close is Optronix now, Magnus?" Jetfire asked. The smaller mech shut off his optics for a moment, then turned them back on with a frown.

"We're practically underneath him..."

"_Underneath_-?" Prowl began, only to have Magnus suddenly run out of the hallway and into the wide walkway.

"Optronix, what in the name of _Primus_ are you doing on the roof!"

"Hey, where'd Oppie go?"

"That's funny, he was right behind us..." Prowl trailed off with a serious look, following Magnus. Sentinel saw something glint in the light near the end of the hallway, and paused examine a sharp edge in the wall. _Black blood; The blood of a Prime... Was 'Oppie' a Prime? What city is he from then?_ Sentinel hesitated before stepping out onto the sidewalk. _I hope I come across him again, in the very least to thank him_... ... ...

* * *

Subi: I hate corners. ; Review please if you think this is good so far. nn Reviewers are loved, you know... 


	25. Heights

Subi: ... ... ...

Optimus: Do we want to know?

Subi: (twitches) Probably not...

Optimus: Oo;... (leaves the room)

* * *

**25. Heights**

"Optronix, what in the name of _Primus _are you doing on the roof?.!" Magnus shouted as he ran out into the street below me. I was sitting near the edge of the spherical roof of the Old Iacon Council building, having my left foot hanging loosely over the edge while I supported my head with my right fist against my other leg. Even though I was looking towards the starred sky, the sharp image of the look on Magnus's face below me as he ranted at me to come down caused a very weak smile to play across my face.

"Optronix!" He howled. "If you don't get your _aft _down here..!"

"Magnus, you're going to wake up the whole city, keep _quiet_!" Prowl hissed, clamping his hand over the younger mech's mouth. Magnus struggled free and glared at him silently as Sentinel came out of the building behind them. Red Alert walked a few steps away and looked up at me in concern. Jetfire paced restlessly as the others began to discuss how to convince me to come down.

I ignored them.

Yes, that's right, I _ignored _them.

My optics had picked out two stars in the dark sky, and it my _full _attention. One I knew was Commos, the star in the Omni System near the mining colonies I used to work at as Orion Pax. I didn't know the other star's name, but I knew that there was something important about it... The San? Son?...

_Something like that,_ I mused. _It **sounds **right..._

Actually, this wasn't the first time I'd come out here. There'd been previous times where I'd slipped out of the house at night to come look at the stars; though I have to admit, I didn't usually come out here to the ruined part of Iacon. Normally, I'd go sit on the edge of one of the spaceports and look out at the stars there, but lately, more starships had been coming in and docking there, and it was getting too busy to see past the lights to the night sky.

"Magnus, he completely ignored me when I went up there. It was like he was looking _through_ me. Explain to me how I'm supposed to convince him to come down if his mind doesn't even think that I'm _there_?"

"I don't know..."

"Hey, Optronix!" Sentinel's rumbling voice caught me off guard, and I instinctively jumped to my feet and looked down at him.

"Holy slag..." Prowl managed, gaping open-mouthed at Sentinel. The older Autobot took a step towards me, "Are you done up there, or are you ready to come home?"

I blinked numbly at them, Sentinel's question not really registering in my thoughts. "Home?" I frowned, "I am home." Magnus put his face in his hands with a faint groan, and Sentinel stared back at me with a confused look.

"Optronix, this isn't where you live! It's-" Red Alert began, only to cut off as Sentinel raised a hand to silence him, the yellow mech not taking his optics off of me.

"Where are you, Optronix?" He asked quietly. I blinked again, trying to concentrate on what he was saying. _Where am I... Where..._

_**..."Welcome to Cybertron, Akinyemi..." Silvershadow's voice echoed...**_

_**"Would you knock it off?.!"**_

_**"Knock what off?"**_

_**"You know what, Cheryl!"**_

_**"There's no reason to yell at me, Shiori!"**_

**_"_Both_ of you can quiet down, I'm trying to recharge, for Primus's sake!" I barked down the hallway at their bickering._**

_**"Sorry, Orion," They chorused, sounding a little embarrassed that they'd woken me. I shook my head tiredly, and shut the door to my room again. **Weird day**, I decided as I crawled painfully onto the recharge berth,** I don't usually hurt after a full day of mining... Particularly after seven years of so..._

_**A blue ball bounced across the ground ahead of me as I chased it, only to stop at someone's blue feet. A slender, silver-grey hand picked it up, and my optics tracked past my ball into the blue face of a tall femmebot with concerned light-blue optics.**_

_**"Optimus, I asked you to stay inside," She said, placing her other hand on my much smaller shoulder and drawing me close to her huge, red-blue frame for a hug. I hugged her, then pulled away, "I know mother, but father said-"**_

_**"Your father only wants to hurt you, Optimus," the femme whispered. "You know what he does..."**_

_**I shook my head and pulled away, "He doesn't mean to, mother... He doesn't mean... he doesn't..." And I was suddenly crying in her arms.**_

_**"I know... That's why I have to send you away." She gently began rubbing the back of my shaking, sobbing frame. "I promise you'll be safe with my friend, she'll watch over you, your sisters, and your brother until I can join you..."**_

_**  
**_

_**"So, what's your name?" the pink and silver femme asked. I avoided looking into her optics as I mumbled my answer: "Ootrwonix..."**_

_**"Orion Pax?" **Close enough**... I nodded, deciding that it was better than telling her my real name. She smiled gently, "Alright, Orion, welcome to Urnsat Major. My name is Heartsome. Let's go home." She offered her hand. I took it and let her lead me away from the huge, white starship docked in the spaceport...**_

* * *

"Optronix?" Magnus heard Sentinel call to the stilled Autobot standing on the roof above them. Magnus gazed up at the red, blue, and silver mech, feeling more emotions flashing though Optronix than was normal. _He can't hear us... He's having a serious memory attack right now... He needs someone who knows what its like to have a memory attack, which isn't any of us..._ Magnus suddenly remembered someone who _did_ have memory attacks aside from Optronix... 

"I don't get it," Red Alert muttered. "It's like his audio systems are partially connected..."

"Why do you connect everything to medical stuff?"

"Because I understand 'medical stuff' better than anything else?"

"He isn't answering..." Jetfire noted, ignoring Prowl and Red Alert's argument behind him.

"I'm a little more worried about the fact that his optics aren't a normal color," Sentinel responded, almost afraid to take his own optics off of the unmoving mech. "Hardly saying anything is pretty normal for him at home."

"Magnus, he isn't about to jump or anything, is he?... Magnus?" Prowl turned all the way around, looking for the younger mech. "Where did he go?.!"

"Oh great! Lets just turn this into a 'let's look for everybody!' game!" Red Alert fumed. "Magnus, if you can hear us, get back here!"

"Why do we even _bother_?" Jetfire groaned, "First Optronix, then Red, now Magnus... Who's next?"

"Preferably no one," Prowl muttered.

**_BAM!_** The four of them jumped and spun around, looking for the source of the noise and if Optronix was alright...

... Only to find the mech wasn't anywhere to be seen once again... ... ...

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Subi: Please review... ;-; 


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